KX CHANGE 
OCT     10  1919 


SPIRITISM  AND  RELIGION 


MORAL  STUDY 


DISSERTATION 

■Sifbmitted  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Sacred  Sciences  at  the  Catholic 

University  of  America  in  partial  fulfilment  of  the 

requirements  for  the  Doctorate  in  Theology 


By  the 

Revebend  Johan  Liljencrants,  a.  M.,  J.  C.  B.,  S.  T.  L. 
Of  the  Archdiocese  of  Baltimore 


Catholic  University  of  America 

Washington,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A. 

MCMXVIII 


•«• 


SPIRITISM  AND  RELIGION 


A  MORAL  STUDY 


DISSERTATION 

Submitted  to  the  Faculty  of  the  Sacred  Sciences  at  the  Catholic 

University  of  America  in  partial  fulfilment  of  the 

requirements  for  the  Doctorate  in  Theology 


By  the 

Reverend  Johan  Liljencrants,  A.  M.,  J.  C.  B.,  S.  T.  L. 
Of  the  Archdiocese  of  Baltimore 


Catholic  University  of  America 

Washington,  D.  C,  U.  S.  A. 

MCMXVIII 


1918 

J.  P.  Bell  Co.,  Inc. 

Lynchburg,  Va. 


NIHIL  OBSTAT. 

Washingtonii,  die  25.  Maii,  1918. 

Joannes  A.  Ryan, 

^Mpr  Deputatus. 
IMPRIMATUR.  LIBRARY 

Richmondii,  die  25.  Maii,  1918. 

Denis  I.  O'Connell, 

Episcopus  Richmondiensis. 


Copyright,  1918 

by 

Reverend  Johan  Liljencrants 
All  rights  reserved. 


UNIVERSITAS    CATHOLICA   AMERICAE,   Washingtonii 

S.  FACULTAS  THEOLOGICA,  1917-1918 

No.  11 


To  Q.  P.,  Whose  Loyal  Friendship  Has 

Been  a  Tower  of  Strength,  We 

Dedicate  This  Book 

The  Author 


PREFACE. 

As  a  normative  science  dealing  with  the  morality  of 
human  acts,  Moral  Theology  is  constantly  confronted 
with  new  problems  brought  up  by  the  progress  of 
civilization.  New  discoveries,  new  philosophies,  new 
beliefs,  new  political  and  economic  conditions  and 
theories,  all  have  their  moral  and  theological  aspects. 
It  is,  therefore,  the  function  of  Moral  Theology  to  ap- 
ply to  every  new  phase  of  human  activity,  which  has  a 
moral  bearing,  the  already  estabhshed  principles  of 
morality,  and  to  set  forth  such  rules  of  conduct  as  may 
be  applicable  to  this  new  phase  in  practical  life. 

In  exercising  this  fimction  Moral  Theology  draws 
upon  principles  which  in  their  foundation,  as  based  upon 
Divine  Revelation,  are  unchangeable,  and  throughout 
the  ages  present  an  unvarying  and  supreme  standard 
of  morahty.  In  the  application  of  these  principles, 
however,  its  verdict  may  undergo  changes  and  modifi- 
cations following  those  which  take  place  in  the  issues 
themselves  or  in  their  relation  to  pohtical,  economic  and 
social  life  and  its  development.  Thus,  for  example, 
older  Theologians  would  condemn  the  taking  of  inter- 
est as  being  usury,  while  modern  Theologians,  alive  to 
the  changes  which  have  taken  place  in  economic  con- 
ditions, recognize  the  productive  nature  of  capital  and 
allow  interest  within  just  limits.  Again,  the  progress 
of  scientific  discovery  has  brought  many  an  issue  into 
a  new  light.  From  the  superstitious  practices  of 
astrology  and  alchemy,  severely  condemned  by  Theo- 
logians, emerged  the  sciences  of  astronomy  and  chemis- 
try, the  usefulness  and  lawfulness  of  which  were  im- 
mediately recognized. 

We  believe  that  a  similar  change  is  gradually  taking 
place  in  the  subject  which  concerns  us  in  this  treatise. 
Physical  Research,  which  is  rapidly  gaining  recognition 


•6f  •'.:.'" r'ci;    ;  /'•,  [  ':  Preface 

as  a  new  branch  of  science,  is  gradually  bringing  a  large 
portion  of  the  Spiritistic  phenomena,  and  the  occult  in 
general,  into  the  realm  of  nature,  divesting  it — in  its 
objective  nature — of  the  attributes  of  a  preternatural 
order  with  which  it,  until  very  recently,  has  been  gener- 
ally conceived.  It  is  in  an  attempt  to  adjust  the 
theological  verdict  on  Spiritism  to  this  new  order  of 
things  that  this  book  is  written. 

At  present  Physical  Research  is  an  emerging  branch 
of  science,  and  the  results  it  has  so  far  achieved  are  to  a 
large  extent  necessarily  vague  and  lacking  definiteness 
and  solidity.  This  has  increased  both  the  difficulty  of 
our  undertaking  and  the  matter  presented  preliminary 
to  the  theological  discussion  of  the  subject.  Whatever 
results  we  may  have  obtained  we  owe  in  large  measure 
to  the  members  of  the  Faculty  of  Sacred  Theology  of 
the  Catholic  University  of  America,  under  whose 
generous  guidance  this  work  has  been  prosecuted.  Par- 
ticularly do  we  wish  to  acknowledge  our  indebtedness 
to  four  members  of  this  Faculty,  the  Reverend 
Doctors  John  W.  Melody,  John  A.  Ryan,  Edmund  T. 
Shanahan,  and  Patrick  J.  Healy. 

The  Catholic  University  of  America. 
Pentecost,  1918. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Introduction '. 9 

Chapter  I.     History  of  Modern  Spiritism 18 

II.     Physical  Phenomena 45 

III.     Physical  Phenomena   (Continued) 67 

IV.     Psychical  Phenomena   90 

V.     Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 119 

VI.     Spiritism  and  Psychology 181 

VII.     Spirit  Identity 212 

VIII.     Spiritism  as  a  Religion 248 

IX.     Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 268 

Bibliography    282 

Index    287 

Theses 297 

Vita 311 


INTRODUCTION 

The  year  1848  saw  the  birth  of  a  popular  and,  at 
least  in  its  subsequent  development,  a  religious  move- 
ment which  for  over  half  a  century  has  made  much 
noise,  not  only  in  the  United  States  of  America  where 
its  cradle  stood,  but  also  abroad,  throughout  the  civilized 
world.  Perhaps  more  commonly  known  under  the 
name  of  Spiritualism,  but  at  any  rate  more  correctly 
mider  that  of  Spiritism,^  it  is  founded  upon  the  belief 
that  the  living  can,  and  actually  more  or  less  at  will  do, 
communicate  with  the  spirits  of  the  departed.  It  pre- 
sents a  threefold  element.  Besides  the  fundamental 
belief  in  intercommunication  between  the  living  and  the 
dead,  we  find  in  it  the  various  practices  by  which  such 
communication  is  attempted  and  a  collection  of  partly 
vague  religious  creeds  derived  from  what  is  held  to  be 
revelation  contained  in  messages  from  the  beyond.  In 
its  turn  the  fundamental  belief  in  communication  with 
the  departed  rests  upon  the  interpretation  of  various 
obscure  phenomena  as  indicating  the  agency  of  de- 
parted men  and  women. 

While  the  Spiritistic  movement  is  distinctly  modern, 
its  essential  features  are  probably  as  old  as  the  human 
race.  We  find  them  in  what  is  known  as  Necromancy, 
or  the— at  least  presumed — evocation  of  the  spirits  of 
the  departed  for  the  purpose  of  divination,  practiced  in 
all  ages  and  rather  universally,  but  especially  among 
pagan  peoples. 

Such  practices  have  always  been  common  among  the 
fakirs  of  India;  the  Chaldean  magicians  in  all  prob- 

^  Spiritualism  rightly  denotes  a  philosophical  doctrine  which  holds,  in 
general,  that  there  is  a  spiritual  order  of  beings  no  less  real  than  the 
material,  and,  in  particular,  that  the  soul  of  man  is  a  spiritual  sub- 
stance.— Edw.  A.  Pace  in  Cath.  Encyclop.     Art.  "Spiritism." 

For  our  choice  of  term  we  also  find  support  in  the  French  and  Ger- 
man languages  in  which  "Spiritisme"  and  "Spiritismus,"  respectively, 
are  predominantly  used,  and  also  among  certain  English,  American,  and 
Italian  writers. 


10  Introduction 

ability  introduced  them  among  the  ancient  Egj^ptians, 
who  brought  them  to  a  flourishing  state;  they  exist  in 
China  since  time  immemorial  and  constituted  an  im- 
portant element  in  the  rehgious  ideas  of  ancient  Persia. 
In  classical  Greece  the  oracles  were  being  constantly  in- 
voked and  necromancers  could  be  consulted  in  many 
favored  places.  Even  Socrates  and  Aristotle  indulged 
in  conversations  with  spirits.^  Nor  was  Necromancy 
unknown  among  the  Romans,  as  may  be  gathered  from 
the  works  of  Cicero,  Pliny  the  Elder,  Horace,  Lucan 
and  others.^ 

The  Old  Testament  shows  that  the  Hebrews  were 
acquainted  with  similar  practices.^  Thus,  to  give  but 
one  example,  Saul  conversed  with  the  spirit  of  Samuel 
evoked  by  a  certain  woman  of  Endor  who  was  endowed 
with  a  divining  spirit.^  The  frequency  of  their  pro- 
hibition found  in  the  Sacred  Books  and  the  severity 
with  which  these  practices  were  punished,  would  show 
that  they  were  by  no  means  uncommon.^ 

In  the  first  Christian  centuries  Necromancy  was  ex- 
tensively practiced  by  the  pagans  in  the  Roman  Em- 
pire.^ But  with  the  spread  of  Christianity,  in  which  it 
met  a  relentless  enemy,  it  gradually  lost  its  strict  signifi- 
cance and  became  identified  with  witchcraft  and  other 
forms  of  magic  in  which  for  the  most  part  evil  spirits 
were  given  the  place  of  the  souls  departed. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  some  of  the  most  promi- 
nent features  of  modern   Spiritism  are  found  in  the 

'  Arist.,  "de  Mirab,"  160. 

^Cicero,  "Tusculane,"  i:16,  37;  "de  Divinatione,"  i:58,  132;  Pliny  the 
E.,  "Hist.,"  XXX :6;  Horace,  "Satira,"  vii;  "Epod.,"  iii,  xii,  xvii;  Lucan, 
"Pharsalia,"  lib.  vi. 

^  IV  Kings,  xvii:  17,  xxi:6,  xxiii:24;  II  Paralip,  xxxiii:6;  Isaia, 
viii:19,  xix:3,  xxix:4. 

*I  Kings,  XXV,  iii: 7-20;  cfr.  Eccl-us,  xlvi:23,  and  Div.  Thorn.  Aquin. 
Summa  Theol.  2.2<f  q.  xcv.,  a.  iv.,  ad  2. 

■'Levit.  xix:31,  xx:6;  Deut.  xviii:ll,  12;  Levit.  xx:27;  I  Kings, 
xxviii  :9. 

'  Tertull.,  "Apolog.,"  xiii,  xxii ;  "de  Anim.,"  Ivi,  Ivii ;  Minueii  Felic. 
"Octav.,"  xxvii,  xxviii;  Lactant.,  "Dio  Instil. ,"  iv:27;  Hilarii  in  Ps.  9-'} ; 
Euseb.,  "Hist.  Eccl.,"  viii:14. 


Introduction  11 

ancient  practices  of  Necromancy.  Communication  with 
the  spirits  was  frequently  undertaken  through  the 
medium  of  a  person  thought  to  possess  special  faculties 
for  such  intercourse,  and  spirit-communications  were 
often  received  by  these  intermediaries  while  in  somnam- 
bulistic sleep.  The  priestess  in  the  tower  of  Belos  in 
Babylonia  obtained  her  information  while  in  a  trance/ 
and  in  the  temple  of  Serapis  at  Canopus  in  Egypt 
great  worship  was  performed;  many  miraculous  works 
were  wrought,  which  the  most  eminent  men  believed, 
while  others  devoted  themselves  to  the  sacred  sleep. ^ 
The  consecrated  temple  at  Alexandria  had  similar  fame, 
and  old  Egyptian  paintings  show  figures  of  priests  mak- 
ing "magnetic  passes"  and  entering  into  the  somnam- 
bulistic state.  Zoroaster  entered  by  trance  into  the 
heavenly  world  and  the  Phytias  were  entranced  before 
receiving  inspiration  from  Apollo.  We  recognize  some 
of  the  so-called  physical  phenomena  of  modern  Spirit- 
ism, such  as  "levitation"  and  "elongation,"  among  the 
miracles  of  Indian  fakirs  both  of  old  and  of  to-day.^ 

The  belief  in  ghosts  making  their  presence  known  by 
auditory  or  visual  manifestations  is  ancient.  So  also 
the  belief  that  various  mysterious  physical  disturbances 
observed  from  time  to  time,  such  as  flinging  of  objects, 
upsetting  of  furniture,  ringing  of  bells  and  producing 
sundry  noises,  are  to  be  ascribed  to  spirit-agencies. 
Many  of  these  disturbances  bear  a  striking  resemblance 
to  certain  phenomena  occurring  in  the  modem  seance- 
room. 

In  1661  the  presence  of  a  drum  taken  from  a  vagrant 
drummer  by  Squire  Mompesson  of  Tedworth  in  Wilt- 
shire gave  all  indications  of  being  the  cause  of  mys- 
terious hangings  on  the  Squire's  doors,  levitation  of  his 
children,  rappings,  moving  of  furniture  and  the  appear- 

'  Herodotus,  Hist.,  lib.  i,  180-183. 

*  Strabo,  Geogr.,  lib.  xvii,  c.  i,  §  17. 

'  Philostrat.,  "Yita  Apollon.  Tyan."  lib.  iii,  c.  15,  17. 


12  Introduction 

ing  of  "a  great  body  with  two  red  and  glaring  eyes."  ^ 
In  1716  the  home  of  the  Reverend  Samuel  Wesley  at 
Epworth  was  similarly  haunted,  the  ghost  apparently 
preferring  the  company  of  the  children.^  Lord 
Brougham  in  1799  had  an  apparition  of  a  former 
schoolmate  on  the  night  of  his  death  and  under  rather 
peculiar  circumstances.^  Accounts  of  similar  disturb- 
ances and  apparitions  could  be  multiplied  at  pleasure; 
hardly  a  single  estate  or  castle  in  Europe  lacks  its  pe- 
cuhar  ghost. 


Occult  phenomena,  then,  of  various  kinds  and 
ascribed  mostly  to  the  agency  of  the  departed,  have 
been  recorded  in  abundant  quantity  from  all  parts  of 
the  globe  and  all  ages.  But  there  is  no  logical  or 
historical  connection  between  these  and  the  movement 
known  as  Modern  Spiritism  which  arose  in  1848.  Yet, 
however  sudden  may  have  been  the  rise  of  Modern 
Spiritism,  it  can  not  be  said  to  have  sprung  into  being 
on  unprepared  soil,  for  its  way  had  been  broken  by 
Swedenborgianism  and  Mesmerism,  which  may  be  said 
to  have  been  its  direct  forerunners.  We  think  a  few 
words  concerning  these  movements  will  not  be  amiss 
in  this  connection. 

Mesmerism  made  its  first  appearance  as  a  popular 
system  of  curing  diseases.  It  was  Mesmer's  theory,  as 
elaborated  in  his  dissertation  for  the  doctorate  in 
medicine,^  that  the  new  force  which  he  claimed  to  have 
discovered,  and  which  he  named  "Animal  Magnetism," 
consisted  of  a  very  subtle  fluid  capable  of  receiving  and 
communicating  all  impressions  of  motion  independently 
of  distance  or  intermediary  agents.     This  fluid  he  held 

^  Glanvill's    " Badducismus    Triumphatus,"    quoted     by    H.     Addington 
Bruce  in  "Historic  Ghosts  and  Ghost  Hunters,"  p.  28. 
^  Bruce,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  36-55. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  102-119. 
*"De  Vinfluence  des  Pianettes  sur  le  corps  humain."     Vicuna  1766. 


Introduction  18 

to  be  a  medium  of  mutual  influence  between  bodies 
celestial,  the  earth  and  human  beings,  manifested  par- 
ticularly in  himian  bodies. 

Mesmer's  "haquet"  rapidly  became  popular,  a  move- 
ment emerged  and  spread,  and  its  adherents  organized 
themselves  into  "Societies  of  Harmony."  At  the  same 
time  a  considerable  literature  on  the  subject  made  its 
appearance.  The  number  of  mesmeric  practitioners,  or 
magnetizers,  grew,  and  in  the  course  of  time  the  rather 
crude  methods  to  which  Mesmer's  earlier  patients  had 
been  subjected  gradually  were  abandoned  and  "mag- 
netic passes"  became  the  customary  form  of  treatment. 
In  this  manner  the  magnetizer  would  induce  his  clients 
into  somnambulistic  sleep,  in  which  state  they  often 
were  able  to  diagnose  their  own  diseases  as  well  as  those 
of  others  and  to  prescribe  remedies. 

It  was  left  to  Alexandre  Bertrand  and  to  Braid  to 
find  a  more  natural  explanation  for  the  "magnetic 
phenomena"  and  to  lay  the  foundation  for  what  now  is 
known  under  the  name  of  Hypnotism.  In  the  mean- 
time the  popular  side  of  the  movement  had  a  rapid 
growth  and  development.  An  ever-increasing  army  of 
professional  magnetizers  and  clairvoyants  secured  a 
steady  stream  of  converts,  the  Societies  of  Harmony 
were  extended  and  the  literature  on  the  subject  took 
volume.  Gradually  a  new  interpretation  of  the 
phenomena  was  adopted,  associating  them  with  occult 
and  mysterious  operations  of  spirits. 

No  doubt  Swedenborgianism  contributed  in  no  small 
degree  to  this  development.  Ever  since  1745,  when 
Swedenborg  had  his  first  vision  in  which  our  Lord,  so 
he  believed,  initiated  him  into  the  spiritual  sense  of 
Holy  Scripture,  his  trance  communications  with  the 
other  world  had  attracted  much  attention.  Stockholm 
became  the  center  of  fashionable  spirit-seances,  and  the 
new  theory  of  communication  between  the  living  and 
the  dead  was  readily  received  by  the  members  of  the 


14  Introduction 

Society  of  Harmony  in  that  capital.  In  a  short  time 
Sweden  was  overrun  by  mediums  dehvering  messages 
from  the  departed.  Thence  the  new  movement  spread 
through  the  European  continent,  where  it  was  taken  up 
by  the  mesmerists.  In  the  early  part  of  the  nineteenth 
century  seances  with  table-turning  and  spirit  com- 
munications were  being  held  everywhere. 

Science  did  not  fail  to  give  a  garb  to  the  new  move- 
ment. A  school  of  spiritistic  cosmology  was  founded  by 
Professor  J.  H.  Jung- Stilling,  according  to  which  there 
exists  in  man,  besides  his  body  and  immortal  soul,  a 
luminous  body  inseparable  from  the  soul  and  made  of 
ether.  In  the  trance-state,  in  which  the  soul  is  partly 
divested  of  the  material  body,  it  is  able  to  act  more 
freely  and  is  capable  of  perception  independently  of 
the  sense  organs.  The  ether  which  fills  space  is  the 
abode  of  spirits,  while  the  atmosphere  of  the  earth  har- 
bors the  fallen  angels  and  lost  human  souls.^ 

Perhaps  the  most  remarkable  medium  of  the  mesmer- 
istic  period  was  Frederica  Hauffe,  the  "Seeress  of 
Provost,"  who  began  her  early  career  with  prophetic 
and  revelatory  dreams  to  which  soon  were  added 
physical  phenomena.  These  latter  were  particularly  de- 
veloped in  the  home  of  the  famous  physician  Julius 
Kerner,  whom  she  visited  for  medical  treatment  a  year 
before  her  death,  which  occurred  in  1827.  Kerner  be- 
came convinced  of  the  reality  of  her  spirit  intercourse, 
and  shortly  after  her  death  published  an  account  of  her 
trances  and  trance-revelations." 

Before  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century  Mes- 
merism was  largely  practiced  in  North  America.  Here 
also  it  mingled  with  Swedenborgianism  and  underwent 
a  development  similar  to  that  in  Europe.     Its  most 


^  "Theorie  der  Geister-Kunde." 

^  "Die  Seherin  von  Provost,  Eroffnungen  iiber  das  Tnnere  Lehen  und 
uber  das  Hereinragen  einer  Oeisterwelt  in  die  Unsere." — Stuttgart  und 
Tubingen,  4  Ausg.   1846. 


Introdtiction  15 

interesting  character,  perhaps,  was  Andrew  Jackson 
Davis,  ahas  the  "Poughkeepsie  Seer,"  who  in  1845  gave 
trance  lectures  in  New  York,  a  Dr.  Lyon  of  Bridge- 
port acting  as  his  magnetizer,  and  these  were  pubhshed 
under  the  title  "The  Principles  of  Nature^  Her  Divine 
Revelation,  and  a  Voice  to  Mankind."  On  the  whole 
the  work  is  a  jiunble  of  the  philosophical  doctrines  then 
current,  including  a  due  portion  of  evolutionism  and 
pantheism.  The  "Univercoelum"  or  "Spiritual  Philoso- 
pher," a  periodical  devoted  to  the  exposition  of  Davis' 
opinions  and  revelations,  made  its  first  appearance  in 
1847.  His  complete  works,  including  the  "Great 
Harmo7iia"  are  published  in  26  volumes.^ 

Popular  Mesmerism  of  this  kind  was  in  full  develop- 
ment when  Spiritism  made  its  entrance  into  the  world. 
The  new  movement  was  quickly  adopted  by  the  ad- 
herents of  the  older  whose  creeds,  philosophy  and 
prophets  it  made  its  own.  This  fact,  and  the  extension 
which  the  superseded  movement  had  reached,  alone  can 
account  for  the  rapidity  of  growth  enjoyed  by  Spiritism 
from  the  very  outset. 


Of  late  much  serious  and  fruitful  work  has  been  done 
along  the  lines  of  Psychical  Research,  and  treatises  of 
high  scientific  merit  have  been  published  in  which  the 
phenomena  of  Spiritism  are  closely  scrutinized  and 
analyzed  and  theories  advanced  for  their  explanation. 
This  labor  belongs  to  the  realm  of  psychology  and 
physics,  and  theology  finds  no  place  here  any  more  than 
it  does  in  biology.  No  matter  how  painstaking  has 
been  this  research,  no  matter  how  capable  and  untiring 
its  leaders,  so  far  as  positive  conclusions  regarding  the 
nature  of  the  phenomena  are  concerned  very  little  has 
as  yet  been  established.    It  is  to  be  hoped  that  in  time 

^  James  Bums,  London. 


16  Introduction 

Psychical  Research  will  succeed  in  solving  the  riddle; 
at  present  we  shall  have  to  abide  in  its  realm  by  the  re- 
sults it  so  far  has  reached. 


In  the  meantime  Spiritism  has  broadly  been  voicing 
its  claims  in  no  uncertain  manner,  and  we  need  but  pick 
at  random  among  popular  books,  magazines  and  news- 
papers to  receive  a  notion  of  the  great  popularity  en- 
joyed by  the  New  Revelation  it  proclaims  to  be  giving 
to  the  world.  To  Spiritists  the  reality  of  intercourse 
with  the  souls  of  the  departed  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute. 
Upon  this  conviction  they  base  their  firm  belief  in  the 
validity  of  the  Revelation  from  the  beyond — obtained 
through  mediums — as  being,  if  not  an  entirely  new  Re- 
ligion, at  least  a  new  Gospel  superseding  that  of  tra- 
ditional Christianity.  It  is  professedly  a  Religion  of  the 
laity  as  opposed  to  sacerdotalism  and  spiritual  authority, 
and  as  such  it  is  antagonistic  to  traditional  Christianity. 

"The  Church,"  says  one  exponent,^  "seems  to  ignore 
the  ability  of  the  laity.  It  has  not  reckoned  with  the 
force  of  an  advancing  tide  of  criticism — criticism  born 
of  the  Church's  own  supine  stupidity,  its  belief  in  its 
own  supremacy  over  the  minds  and  souls  of  mankind, 
its  blind  adherence  to  proved  errors,  its  long  and  tacit 
acceptance  of  unprovable  facts,  its  aggressive  attitude 
toward  Science."  "In  this  indictment  of  the  Church 
lie  the  reasons  for  its  opposition  to  spiritualism.  The 
Church  resents  the  experiments  of  those  engaged  in 
psychic  research  to  establish  by  scientific  means  that  life 
after  death  is  an  absolute  fact,  that  we  of  this  world 
have  the  power  to  know  what  the  'dead'  are  doing,  think- 
ing, saying." 

It  is  in  its  popular,  religious  form  that  Spiritism 
challenges  Christianity,  and  in  this  aspect  the  new  move- 

^See  The  Bookman,  Jan.  1918,  p.  516. 


Introduction  17 

merit  certainly  falls  within  the  legitimate  field  of 
theological  discussion.  Would  it  seem,  perhaps,  that 
in  order  to  arrive  at  its  decision  theology  would  have  to 
depend  upon  the  verdict  of  Psychical  Research  as  to 
the  real  nature  of  the  messages  by  which  the  soi-disante 
Revelation  is  conveyed?  If  the  verdict  were  to  be  had, 
if  this  nature  could  be  scientifically  demonstrated,  the 
theological  problem  would  be  much  simplified.  As  mat- 
ters now  stand  the  results  at  hand  will  not  fail  to  be  of 
great  assistance. 

But  theology  is  not  seeking  new  proofs  of  im- 
mortality— it  already  possesses  proofs  to  that  fact  of  a 
nature  infinitely  stronger  than  could  ever  be  produced 
by  a  poor,  weak,  entranced  spirit-medium.  Nor  does  it 
absolutely  deny  the  possibility  of  intercourse  with  the 
departed.  Let  these  two  things  be  proven  according  to 
the  rules  of  profane  science,  and  theology  need  not 
open  its  mouth.  But  when  a  new  Revelation  or  a  new 
Religion  emerges  it  is  time  for  theology  to  step  in — in 
its  rightful  province — and  to  pronounce  its  verdict  in  the 
name  of  Christianity  which  its  represents. 

It  is  the  theological  side  of  the  inquiry  into  Spiritism 
that  we  shall  pursue  in  this  treatise.  In  general  we  shall 
endeavor  to  estimate  the  value  of  Spiritism  as  a  Re- 
ligion ;  in  particular  to  show  that  its  doctrines  cannot  be 
accepted  as  offering  an  amplification  and  elucidation  of 
the  Gospel  of  Christ,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  Spiritism 
is  essentially  anti-Christian. 

From  a  short  survey  of  the  Spiritistic  movement  and 
of  its  main  phenomena  we  shall  pass  to  a  discussion  of 
already  advanced  explanatory  theories,  and  having 
drawn  our  conclusions  from  such  study  we  shall  deal 
with  the  religious  aspect  in  itself  as  well  as  in  the  light 
of  theology. 


CHAPTER  I. 

History  of  Modern  Spiritism. 

In  December,  1847,  John  D.  Fox,  a  Methodist 
farmer,  with  his  wife  Margarete  and  his  two  youngest 
daughters,  Margaretta  and  Katie,  moved  into  a  small 
wooden  house  in  the  village  of  Hydesville,  Wayne 
County,  New  York.  David  Fox,  a  married  son,  lived 
two  miles  from  Hydesville,  and  a  married  daughter, 
Mrs.  Fish  (later  successively  Mrs.  Brown  and  Mrs. 
Underhill),  lived  in  Rochester,  New  York. 

The  house  in  question  was  known  to  have  been  the 
scene  of  mysterious  disturbances  before  the  advent  of 
the  Fox  family,  and  from  the  time  'of  their  arrival 
strange  noises  were  heard,  which  gradually  increased, 
and  in  February  the  following  year  became  distinct  and 
continuous  enough  to  disturb  the  sleep  of  the  tenants. 
On  Friday  evening,  March  31st,  1848,  the  family  had 
retired  early.  Presently  the  usual  noises  commenced, 
and  at  length  Katie,  being  then  twelve  years  old, 
merrily  snapped  her  fingers  and  called  out :  "Here,  Mr. 
Splitfoot,  do  as  I  do!"  Instantly  the  invisible  rapper 
responded  by  imitating  the  number  of  her  movements. 
Motions  made  by  her  noiselessly  were  repeated  by 
knocks,  and  when  discovering  this  she  cried  out:  "Only 
look.  Mother,  it  can  see  as  well  as  hear!"^ 

Mrs.  Fox  now  began  to  question  the  rapper  regard- 
ing the  age  of  her  children,  and  correct  answers  were 
given  by  means  of  knockings.  Neighbors  were  sum- 
moned and  the  investigation  was  continued  till  late  in 
the  night. 

A  system  of  answering  was  invented  by  one  of  those 
present,  by  which  questions  were  answered  by  knockings 

^  Britten,  "Modern  American  Spiritualism,"  p.   32. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  19 

if  in  the  affirmative,  by  silence  if  in  the  negative.  By 
this  method  it  was  learned  that  the  mysterious  rapper 
had  been  murdered  in  the  house,  and  after  a  search  hu- 
man remains  were  found  under  the  floor  of  the  cellar. 
Later  a  neighbor  suggested  an  alphabet-system,  and  by 
this  means  the  name  of  the  victim  of  murder,  Charles 
Rosna,^  was  revealed,  together  with  other  information." 

Thus  began  the  movement  of  Modern  Spiritism, 
which  from  its  origin  in  the  Fox  family  spread  like  wild 
fire  throughout  the  North  American  Continent. 

Shortly  after  the  time  of  the  incidents  related 
Margaretta  went  to  Mrs.  Fish  in  Rochester  and  Katie 
visited  at  Auburn.  In  both  places  the  phenomena  were 
repeated.  Mrs.  Fish  and  many  persons  in  Rochester 
and  Auburn  became  mediums,  and  in  the  course  of  the 
next  two  or  three  years  the  rappings  had  spread 
throughout  the  greater  part  of  the  Eastern  States.''  In 
1851  there  were  estimated  to  be  a  hundred  mediums  in 
New  York^  and  fifty  to  sixty  private  circles  in  Phila- 
delphia. Both  Mrs.  Fox  and  her  daughters  became 
professional  mediums,  practicing  for  money. 

In  December,  1850,  the  Fox  girls  held  public  seances 
in  Buffalo,  New  York.  There  they  came  under  the  ob- 
servation of  Drs.  Flint,  Lee  and  Coventry,  who  the  fol- 
lowing year  wrote  a  joint  letter  in  which  they  declared 
the  phenomena  to  be  produced  by  "cracking"  of  the 
knee-joints,^  and  a  few  months  later  the  girls  made  a 
confession  in  which  they  admitted  that  the  sounds  were 
produced  with  the  knees  and  the  toes  and  that  they  had 
imparted  their  art  to  other  girls.*^  In  1888  this  confes- 
sion was  confirmed  and  practically  demonstrated  by 


^  Ibid.,  p.  39. 

^  Ibid.,   pp.   29-39;    and   Podmore,    ''Modern    Spiritualism,"   vol.    I,   pp. 
179  et  seq. 

^"Spiritual  Philosopher,"  vol.  I,  p.  99. 
^Ibid.,  vol.  Ill,  p.  151. 

"Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  I,  p.  184. 
'Ibid.,  pp.   185-186. 


20  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

Margaretta  and  Katie,  then  Mrs.  Kane  and  Mrs. 
Jencken,  respectively.^  The  exposures  and  confession 
of  1851,  however,  did  not  check  the  movement. 


In  the  meantime  another  set  of  phenomena  had  oc- 
curred in  the  home  of  the  Reverend  Dr.  Phelps,  a 
Presbyterian  Minister  living  with  his  wife  and  four 
children  in  Stratford,  Connecticut.  In  March,  18.50,  a 
series  of  disturbances,  renewed  at  intervals  for  about 
eighteen  months,  broke  out  in  his  house;  windows  were 
broken  by  invisible  hands,  mysterious  writing  was  pro- 
duced and  raps  were  heard  by  which  often  blasphemous 
answers  were  given  to  questions.  On  one  occasion  the 
older  boy,  being  eleven  years  of  age,  was  carried  across 
the  room ;  another  time  the  heavy  dining-room  table  was 
lifted  from  the  floor.  Letters  containing  mischievous 
and  childish  satires  on  Phelps'  brother-clergymen  were 
thrown  from  above,  and  one  day  the  boy  was  found 
hanged  on  a  tree.  Many  other  mysterious  phenomena 
occurred,  and  the  whole  affair  created  considerable 
sensation.  Andrew  Jackson  Davis,  then  of  fame,  came 
to  Stratford  and  certified  that  the  disturbances  were 
caused  by  vital  electricity  discharged  from  the  elder 
boy's  organism,  whereas  others  sought  an  explanation 
in  the  agency  of  spirits." 

At  the  very  outset  Spiritism  found  an  ally  in  the  al- 
ready widespread  movement  of  Mesmerism.  A  large 
number  of  professional  clairvoyants  included  in  their 
performances  "spirit-rappings,"  Mesmerism  furnished 
a  popular  philosophy  to  the  whole  matter,  and  those  who 
had  adopted  the  spiritistic  interpretation  of  the  mes- 
meric phenomena  eagerly  included  the  rappings  among 
the  manifestations  of  spirits. 

^Ibid.,  p.  188. 

^Podmore,  ''Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  I,  pp.  194-201. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  21 

Numerous  mesmeristic  publications  took  up  the  new 
movement  thus  insuring  its  spead;  writers  of  note, 
such  as  Laroy  and  Sunderland — editor  of  the  "Spirit 
World" — became  converted  to  the  new  belief,  which  also 
was  adopted  by  many  of  the  Socialistic  communities 
flourishing  in  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century. 

Among  prominent  converts  in  the  early  days  may  be 
mentioned  Horace  Greeley  and  Henry  James,  the 
Abohtionist  W.  Lloyd  Garrison,  the  Universalist 
Minister  and  Social  Reformer  John  Murray  Spear, 
John  W.  Edmunds,  Judge  of  the  Supreme  Court  and 
former  Governor  of  New  York,  the  Hon.  N.  P.  Tall- 
madge,  Governor  of  Wisconsin,  and  a  number  of 
Ministers  and  Social  Refoi-mers.  The  ranks  of  the 
movement  were  largely  recruited  by  those  who  had  lost 
sight  of  all  Christian  tradition — among  these  Professor 
Robert  Hare — while  the  most  active  propagandists 
were  furnished  by  the  liberal  Protestant  sects.  In  1854 
some  1,300  persons  signed  a  petition  requesting  Con- 
gress to  investigate  the  matter,  but  no  action  was  taken. 

The  cult  of  Spiritism  spread  to  Europe  in  1852,  be- 
ginning with  Scotland.^  In  that  year  a  veritable  epi- 
demic of  table-turning  swept  the  European  Continent, 
spiritistic  mediums  appearing  everywhere  busily  en- 
gaged in  delivering  "rap-messages"  from  the  departed. 
It  reached  England  in  1853,  where  some  American 
mediums — among  whom  Mrs.  Roberts  and  Mrs. 
Hayden — had  arrived  and  advertised  their  professional 
services.  It  gained  many  disciples  in  the  Scandinavian 
countries  and  Russia,  where  the  way  had  been  paved  by 
the  Swedenborgian  movement  and  occult  practices  in 
vogue  among  the  Mongols.  At  the  same  time  it  was 
imported  into  Germany  and  France,  in  which  latter 
country  the  first  experiments  were  made  simultaneously 

*  Lapponi,  "Ipnotismo  e  Spiritismo,"  p.  52. 


22  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

in  Paris,  Strassbourg,  Marseilles,  Toulon  and  Bordeaux 
in  April,  1853.    Five  years  later  it  had  reached  Italy. 


Spiritism  caused  great  excitement  and  much  discus- 
sion both  in  America  and  in  Europe.  To  the  original 
phenomena  new  and  more  startling  ones  were  rapidly 
added.  The  early  seances  usually  took  place  in  a  dark- 
ened room,  more  rarely  in  full  light,  those  present  seat- 
ing themselves  round  a  table  holding  their  fingers  on 
the  edge  thereof  in  a  manner  as  to  form  a  chain,  the 
thimibs  of  each  person  touching  each  other  and  each 
little  finger  communicating  with  the  little  finger  of  the 
persons  on  either  side,  the  medium  completing  the  chain. 
After  a  few  moments  the  table  would  begin  to  move, 
indicating  that  the  spirits  were  present  and  prepared 
for  further  demonstrations. 

However,  this  introduction  was  not  always  neces- 
sary. The  arrival  of  the  spirits  would  often  be  heralded 
by  rappings,  which  were  largely  utilized  for  a  means  of 
conmiunication  as  described  in  connection  with  the 
original  manifestations  in  the  Fox  family.  Various 
movements,  sometimes  violent,  of  furniture  and  other 
objects  would  then  follow,  bells  placed  under  the  table 
would  be  rung,  musical  instruments  in  the  room  played, 
lights  would  issue  from  the  heads  of  the  sitters  and 
spirit-hands  clasp  their  hands  and  feet. 

During  a  seance  held  by  Mr.  Koons  the  spirits  pro- 
duced a  grand  concert,  "the  fiddle,  drums,  guitar,  banjo, 
accordion,  French  harp,  the  horn,  tea  bell,  triangle,  etc., 
playing  their  parts."  ^  Spirit-hands  would  make  their 
appearance,  darting  about  the  room  and  even  utilizing 
the  paper  and  pencil  placed  on  the  seance-table  for  the 
purpose  of  writing  messages  which  they  signed.  Certain 
spirits  would  address  the  audience,  speaking  through  a 
horn  or  a  trumpet. 

^  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  I,  p.  248. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  23 

Spirit-writing  was  a  common  occurrence,  messages 
usually  being  written  on  paper  placed  under  the  seance- 
table  or  sometimes  in  sight  of  the  sitters,  or  on  closed 
slates  and  even  on  the  bare  arm  and  forehead  of  indi- 
viduals. In  Mr.  Koons'  seance-room  a  band  of  sixty- 
five  spirits,  being  pre-Adamite  men,  revealed  them- 
selves under  the  generic  name  of  King,  and  these  gentle- 
men were  lineal  ancestors  to  the  famous  spirits  John 
King  and  his  sister  Katie,  who  have  been  the  joy  and 
consolation  of  two  generations  of  Spiritists  throughout 
the  world. ^  Add  to  these  phenomena  apparitions  of 
"materialized"  spirit-forms,  "levitation"  from  the  floor 
of  the  medium,  "apport"  of  small  objects  into  closed 
rooms,  and  handling  of  burning  substances  with  im- 
punity. Apparitions  of  the  dead  known  to  the  audience 
belong  to  the  less  frequent  phenomena  of  the  early 
stages. 

But  not  only  did  phenomena  of  a  mere  physical 
nature  occur  at  the  early  seances.  Mrs.  Draper  of 
Rochester  learned  from  the  spirit  of  Benjamin 
Franklin  the  art  of  spirit-telegraphy.  The  messages 
would  be  conveyed  between  two  mediums  in  different 
rooms,  or  even  in  different  localities,  one  of  whom  stood 
in  "rapport"  with  the  communicating  spirit,  and  at 
each  station  the  intelligence  would  be  communicated  by 
means  of  knocks  resembling  the  ticking  of  a  telegraphic 
apparatus.  There  were  also  mediums  who,  prompted 
by  a  spirit,  would  "speak  with  tongues,"  often  in  a 
language  of  which  they  were  ignorant.  Apart  from  this 
dubious  phenomenon  coherent  speaking  and  writing 
were  produced  under  circumstances  which  made  it  evi- 
dent that  the  human  agent  spoke  and  wrote  through  a 
power  not  his  own.  It  occurred  either  in  trance  or  in 
the  waking  state,  automatic  trance-speaking  being  most 
common. 


^  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism"  vol.  I,  p.  248. 


24  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

One  of  the  earliest  accounts  of  automatic  writing  was 
published  in  1852  in  ''The  Pilgrimage  of  Thomas  Paine 
and  others  to  the  Seventh  Circle  by  Rev.  C.  Hammond, 
Medium,"  and  the  best  inspirational  writing  of  the  time 
is  to  be  found  in  ''The  Healing  of  the  Nation'  by 
Charles  Linton/  John  Murray  Spear  in  1853  had 
committed  to  writing  revelations  received  from  the 
spirit-world  concerning  Ethical,  Social,  Biological  and 
Cosmological  truths."  T.  L.  Harris  while  in  trance 
dictated  a  poem  of  three  to  four  thousand  words  en- 
titled "An  Epic  of  the  Starry  Heaven,"  composed  by 
Dante  and  other  mediaeval  spirits.  There  was  also 
automatic  playing  of  music,  dancing,  crowing  and  so 
forth,  and  numerous  cases  of  healing  mediums. 


The  Foxes  continued  their  mediumship  for  a  long 
time,  while  a  multitude  of  minor  mediums  developed, 
chiefly  in  America.  Tallmadge  became  a  medium  of 
note,  but  the  most  famous  of  the  early  performers  was 
INIr.  Daniel  Dunglas  Home  (Hume) .  Born  near  Edin- 
burgh in  1833  he  came  with  his  aunt  to  America  at  the 
age  of  twelve.  In  1850,  having  heard  of  the  Hydes- 
ville  "rappings,"  he  was  seized  by  the  rapidly  grow- 
ing movement  and  went  to  New  York,  where  he  began 
to  hold  seances  before  people  of  prominence.  In  1855 
Home  went  to  England,  where  he  had  the  fortune  to  be 
allowed  to  perform  before  members  of  the  highest 
society,  thence  to  the  Continent.  He  held  sittings  in 
the  Tuileries,  before  the  Czar,  and  in  the  presence  of 
many  distinguished  members  of  the  European  nobility. 
Having  married  a  rich  and  noble  Russian  lady  he  re- 
turned to  England  in  1859,  where  between  frequent 
trips  to  the  Continent  he  continued  to  give  seances.  In 
the  beginning  of  the  seventies  he  gradually  gave  up  his 

•New  York,  1885. 

-  Published  by  H.  E.  Newton  as  vol.  I  of  the  Educator. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  25 

mediumship,  and  after  a  long  illness  he  died  in  1886. 
During  a  visit  to  Rome  in  1856  Home  had  been  received 
into  the  Catholic  Church. 

Home  believed  himself  a  teacher  of  the  truth  of  im- 
mortality and  when  entranced  frequently  delivered  dis- 
courses on  religious  subjects.  He  would  also  deliver 
messages  from  dead  friends  of  members  of  his  circle 
showing  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the  past  of  the  per- 
sons addressed.  His  physical  phenomena  consisted  in 
raps,  movements  of  objects,  shaking  of  the  seance-room, 
playing  of  musical  instruments,  production  of  spirit- 
hands  and  spirit-lights,  levitation  and  elongation  of  him- 
self, speaking  with  spirit-voice,  handling  of  burning 
substances,  and  various  performances  common  to  the 
mediums  of  the  time.  He  has  the  unique  distinction 
among  professional  physical  mediums  never  to  have 
been  exposed  as  an  impostor.^ 

Other  famous  mediums  were  Mrs.  Hayden  and  Mrs. 
Roberts,  whom  we  have  mentioned  in  connection  with 
the  first  appearance  of  Spiritism  in  England,  Mr. 
Robert  Owen,  whose  writings  contained  messages  from 
the  dead  encouraging  his  theories,  P.  B.  Randolph,  the 
Reverend  T.  L.  Harris  and  the  English  medium  Mrs. 
Marshall,  all  physical  mediums.  Psychical  mediumship 
stood  on  the  increase.  In  some  of  the  professional 
mediums  the  two  forms  were  common,  but  for  the  most 
part  the  psychic  mediums  excluded  physical  phenomena 
with  the  exception  of  table-tilting  from  their  seances. 
Writing  and  speaking  mediums  sprang  up  in  almost 
every  private  circle,  and  by  their  hand  or  lips  an  im- 
pressive collection  of  famous  departed  made  themselves 
known  to  mankind. 


^  Podmore,    "Modern    Spiritualism,"    vol.    I,    pp.    223    et    seq. ;     Idem, 
"Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  52-53. 


26  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

The  second  decade  of  the  movement  shows  a  consider- 
able increase  of  physical  mediumship  while  the  psychical 
was  pushed  more  in  the  background.  "Materialization" 
now  became  more  common  in  America.  In  1860 
Robert  D.  Owen  held  sittings  with  the  Underbill 
family^  at  which  a  veiled  and  luminous  female  figure 
presented  itself  and  walked  about  the  room.  Mr. 
Livermore  had  sittings  with  Katie  Fox  at  which  the 
spirit  of  his  wife  and  later  that  of  Benjamin  Franklin 
appeared.  Similar  phenomena  were  repeated  by  other 
mediums. 

In  the  seventies  this  phenomenon  began  to  be  pro- 
duced in  England,  the  first  really  successful  medium 
being  Miss  Florence  Cook,  who  used  a  cabinet  from 
which  the  materialized  spirits  emerged,  the  most  famous 
of  whom  were  John  King  and  Katie,  whose  acquaint- 
ance we  have  already  made.  She  was  detected  in  fraud 
in  1873  by  Mr.  Volksman,  who  seized  the  "spirit" — 
being  the  young  lady  herself.^  During  the  period  1872- 
1880  a  large  number  of  mediums  appeared  in  this  form 
of  manifestation,  but  there  were  also  numerous  ex- 
posures of  fraud,  indignantly  resented  by  the  Spiritists.^ 

Spirit-photography  made  its  first  appearance  in 
Boston  in  1862,  when  Dr.  Gardner  of  that  city  an- 
nounced that  a  photographer  named  Mumler  had 
taken  photographs  of  him  on  which  there  also  was  found 
the  likeness  of  his  cousin  who  had  been  dead  for  twelve 
years.  Mumler  soon  received  many  clients,  but  at 
length  Gardner  discovered  fraud  in  the  process,  and  his 
exposures  stopped  the  trade  for  some  time.  It  reap- 
peared in  1869  in  New  York,  and  the  municipal  authori- 
ties instituted  a  prosecution,  but  Mumler  was  discharged 


'  Margaretta  Fox. 

^Medium  and  Daybreak,  Jan.  23,  1874. 

'Mr.  Leymarie,  "Proces  des  Spirites,"  p.  45;  Medium,  Aug.  14,  1874; 
Newcastle  Daily  Chronicle,  Aug.  21,  1874,  and  Medium  of  the  same  date; 
Spiritualist,  Aug.  28,  1874;  Medium,  Jan.  15,  1875;  Spiritualist,  May  3 
and  17,  and  June  7,  1878. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  27 

for  lack  of  evidence.^  In  1872  it  came  to  England,  Mr. 
Hudson  being  able  with  the  aid  of  Mrs.  Guppy  and 
other  mediums  to  take  spirit-photographs,  but  fraud 
was  soon  ascertained.^  In  1874  a  Parisian  photog- 
rapher, Buguet,  arrived  in  London  and  produced 
highly  artistic  spirit-photographs.  He  was  arrested  by 
the  French  Government  two  years  later  on  the  charge 
of  fraudulent  manufacture  of  spirit-photographs  and 
made  a  full  confession.^  A  fourth  professional  spirit- 
photographer  presented  himself  in  Mr.  Parks.^ 

Among  physical  mediums  in  the  sixties  we  also  note 
Squire,  Redman,  Foster,  Colchester,  Conklin  and  the 
Davenport  brothers.  These  latter  produced  their 
phenomena  from  a  wardrobe-like  cabinet  in  which  they 
were  sitting  hands  and  feet  tied. 


From  the  very  outset  the  spiritistic  phenomena  had 
caused  considerable  speculation  regarding  their  origin 
and  the  manner  in  which  spirit-communication  was  ef- 
fected. The  theories  generally  adopted  in  the  early 
stages  in  America  and  to  a  certain  extent  on  the 
European  Continent  borrowed  much  from  Mesmerism 
and  Swedenborgianism,  and  usually  agreed  upon  the 
existence  in  man  of  an  astral  substance  of  a  nature  be- 
tween matter  and  spirit,  which,  if  detached  from  the 
material  body,  offered  a  means  of  communication  with 
spirits.  Mediumship,  therefore,  consisted  in  the  ability 
of  a  person  easily  to  detach  from  his  body  this  astral 
substance.  It  would  be  to  no  purpose  here  to  set  forth 
the  many  wild  theories  of  this  period  regarding  the  life 
of  the  soul,  especially  after  death,  and  the  constitution 

^Spiritual  Magazine,  1862,  p.  562;  1863,  pp.  36,  82,  128,  182;  1869, 
pp.  226,  241;  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vii:270  et  seq. 

^  8piritu<ilist,  July  1872;   Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vii:271. 

'  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.   121. 

*  For  an  account  of  the  four  Spirit-Photographers  see  Mrs.  H.  Sidgwick 
in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vii:270  et  seq. 


28  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

of  the  spirit-world  in  general;  be  it  enough  to  say  that 
they  were  marked  by  astounding  ignorance  of  natural 
sciences  and  an  amazing  lack  of  logic. 

In  Europe,  however,  there  was  a  strong  tendency  to 
change  the  crude  views  of  the  early  American  Spiritists 
in  a  manner  to  bring  the  phenomena  in  analogy  with 
already  known  phenomena  of  science.  Most  French 
and  ultimately  most  continental  Spiritists  followed  the 
doctrine  of  Allan  Kardec — formerly  M.  Rivail.  Hav- 
ing been  an  ardent  advocate  of  Phrenology  and  Animal 
Magnetism  Kardec  became  converted  to  Spiritism  in 
1862  and  received  through  various  clairvoyants  a  full 
exposition  of  a  new  Gospel,  the  leading  truth  in  which 
was  the  doctrine  of  Reincarnation  as  set  forth  in  a  series 
of  works  ^  based  on  these  revelations.  However,  not 
all  those  who  believed  in  the  phenomena  were  disciples 
of  Kardec.  Count  Agenor  de  Gasparin  explained  them 
as  being  caused  by  some  magnetic  or  physical  force  in- 
herent in  the  sitters,  and  his  friend  Thury  sought  their 
origin  in  a  new  mode  of  energy. 

Among  German  thinkers  neither  the  doctrines  nor 
the  phenomena  of  Spiritism  gained  such  ready  accept- 
ance as  in  France.  In  1861  Maximilian  Perty,  Doctor 
of  Philosophy  of  the  University  of  Berne,  ascribed  the 
physical  phenomena  to  some  occult  power  in  the 
medium's  organism,  at  the  same  time  accounting  for 
the  mental  phenomena  by  planetary  spirits.  Similar 
views  were  advocated  by  other  Continental  writers. 


Up  to  1870  America  had  furnished  almost  all  pro- 
fessional physical  mediums.  But  in  the  seventies  some 
English  physical  mediums  made  their  debut,  notably  F. 
Heme  and  Charles  Williams,  Miss  Florence  Cook, 
Monck,  Rita,  Miss  Wood,  Miss  Fairlamb — later  Mrs. 

^  "Le  Livre  des  Esprits,"  "L'Evangile  selon  le  Spiritisme,"  and  others. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  29 

Mellon,  Miss  Stokes,  Mr.  Eglinton  to  whom  we  shall 
return  later,  and,  above  all,  the  Reverend  Stainton- 
Moses. 

William  Stainton-Moses,  known  under  the  pseu- 
donym "M.  A.  (Oxon),"  was  born  in  Lincolnshire  in 
1839  and  received  his  later  education  at  Oxford.  Dur- 
ing his  student  years  he  suffered  from  weak  health  and 
was  known  often  to  walk  in  his  sleep,  and  finally,  his 
health  having  broken  down,  he  was  obliged  for  some 
time  to  interrupt  his  studies  at  Oxford.  Seeking 
recreation  in  travel  he  came  to  Mount  Athos,  where  he 
stayed  for  some  time  studying  mysticism  and  monastic 
life.  After  his  graduation  from  Oxford  he  was  ordained 
by  Bishop  Wilberforce  of  the  Church  of  England  and 
accepted  a  curacy  on  the  Isle  of  Man.  In  1871  he  came 
as  Master  to  the  University  College  School,  in  which 
position  he  remained  till  three  years  before  his  death. 

In  1872  Mr.  Moses  found  himself  possessed  of  med- 
iumistic  ability  and  began  to  hold  seances,  mostly  in  the 
presence  of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Stanhope  Spear,  at  which  the 
usual  physical  phenomena  occurred,  and  he  gave  very 
remarkable  demonstrations  especially  of  levitation  of 
himself.  A  year  later  he  began  to  produce  automatic 
script. 

Among  the  more  extraordinary  features  of  his  seances 
are  numerous  apparitions  of  what  he  considered  to  be 
spirits,  which  apparitions  fall  into  three  groups:  first, 
a  group  of  persons  recently  deceased,  often  presenting 
themselves  before  their  death  was  publicly  known,  and 
frequently  giving  satisfactory  identification;  secondly, 
a  group  of  spirits  belonging  to  more  remote  genera- 
tions, and,  thirdly,  spirits  giving  such  names  as  Rector, 
Doctor,  Theophiles  and,  above  all,  Imperator,  These 
from  time  to  time  would  reveal  the  names  which  accord- 
ing to  their  assertion  were  theirs  in  life-time,  proving 
themselves  to  be  far  more  illustrious  and  ancient  than 
the  spirits  of  the  second  group. 


30  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

Mr.  Moses  aided  in  the  founding  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  in  1882,  but  soon  withdrew  on  ac- 
count of  what  he  considered  its  unduly  critical  attitude 
towards  the  spiritistic  view  and  reverted  to  "Spiritism 
as  a  Religion."  During  the  last  years  of  his  life  he 
edited  the  weekly  Light.  He  died  on  the  fifth  of 
September,  1892.' 

We  quote  the  following  from  an  article  by  Frederic 
Myers,  who  had  made  Moses'  acquaintance  in  1874  and 
soon  became  his  devoted  friend :  - 

"The  experiences  which  Stainton-Moses  had  under- 
gone had  changed  his  views  but  not  his  character.  He 
was  already  set  in  the  mould  of  the  hardworking,  con- 
scientious, dogmatic  clergyman,  with  a  strong  desire  to 
do  good,  and  a  strong  belief  in  preaching  as  the  best 
way  to  do  it.  For  himself  the  essential  part  of  what  I 
have  called  his  'message'  lay  in  the  actual  words  auto- 
matically uttered  or  written — not  in  the  accompanying 
phenomena  which  really  gave  their  uniqueness  and  im- 
portance to  the  automatic  processes  now  so  familiar. 
In  a  book  called  Spirit  Teachings  he  collected  what  he 
regarded  as  the  real  fruits  of  those  years  of  mysterious 
listening  in  the  vestibule  of  a  world  unknown. 

"Stainton-Moses  was  ill-fitted  for  this  patient,  uphill 
toil  (of  propagating  his  new  faith).  In  the  first  place 
he  lacked — and  he  readily  and  repeatedly  admitted  to 
me  that  he  lacked — all  vestige  of  scientific,  or  even  of 
legal,  instinct.  The  very  words  'first  hand  evidence,' 
'contemporary  record,'  'corroborative  testimony,'  were 
to  him  as  a  weariness  to  the  flesh.  His  attitude  was  that 
of  the  preacher,  who  is  already  so  thoroughly  persuaded 

'See:  Frederic  W.  H.  Myers  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:245  et  seq., 
xi:24  et  seq.;  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp.  78  et  seq.; 
Idem,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  62  et  seq.;  Moses'  articles  in  Iluman  Nature,  1874, 
pp.  47,  161  et  seq.;  and  "Psychography,"  "Spirit  Identity,"  etc.,  London, 
1874;  Posthumous  papers  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vols,  ix  and  xi. 

^  "William  Stainton-Moses,"  by  F.  W.  H.  Myers  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R., 
viii:  579-600. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  31 

in  his  own  mind  that  he  treats  any  alleged  fact  which 
falls  in  with  his  views  as  the  uncriticized  text  for  fresh 
exhortation." 

Among  American  physical  mediums  of  the  period 
1870-1880  should  be  mentioned  Mrs.  Hohnes,  Miss  Eva 
Fay,  Messrs.  Bastian  and  Taylor,  the  Foxes,  especially 
Kate  (Jencken)  and  Slade. 

"Dr."  Henry  Slade  had  gained  considerable  fame  in 
America  for  his  slate-writing  productions.  He  would 
take  an  ordinary  school-slate,  put  a  small  piece  of  pencil 
on  it  and  hold  it  under  the  table.  Presently  the  "spirit" 
would  announce  its  presence  by  raps  and  then  the  writ- 
ing would  be  heard  by  the  sitters.  Slade  came  to  Eng- 
land in  1876  and  there  he  was  detected  in  trickery  by 
Professor  Ray  Lankester,  who  snatched  the  slate  from 
his  hand  from  under  the  table  before  the  "spirit"  had 
announced  its  presence  and  found  the  message  already 
on  the  slate,  which  had  been  prepared  beforehand  and 
exchanged  under  the  table  for  the  original  slate.  As  a 
consequence  Slade  was  prosecuted  and  forced  to  leave 
England.^ 

During  the  seances  in  the  seventies,  besides  the  usual 
physical  phenomena  there  was  slate  writing,  spirit 
"materialization"  and  spirit-photography.  As  a  rule 
the  sittings  were  held  in  the  dark,  and  the  performances 
were  often  accompanied  by  music.  Several  mediums, 
notably  Mrs.  Guppy,  Mr.  Heme,  Miss  Lottie  Fowler 
and  Mr.  Henderson,  exhibited  "transportation,"  i.  e., 
the  medium  would  suddenly  disappear  from  the  seance- 
room,  leaving  a  slight  haze  in  the  ceiling.  Mr.  Moncure 
Conway  in  1875  exposed  the  trick  on  the  part  of  the 
medium  to  free  one  hand,  supposedly  held  by  the  sitters, 
and  use  it  for  performing  the  phenomena.^ 

^London  Times,  Sept.  16,  1876;  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism"  vol. 
II,  p.  89. 

^  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.  80. 


32  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

Prior  to  1860  trance-communications  and  automatic 
speaking  and  writing  had  played  a  leading  part  in  the 
seances  at  least  in  England,  but  after  that  year  these 
manifestations  became  less  important.  Yet,  in  private 
circles  there  has  been  an  abundance  of  automatic  com- 
munication up  to  the  present  time.  Both  Home  and 
Moses  had  trance-communications.  The  most  noted 
professional  psychic  mediums  during  the  period  1860- 
1880  were  Miss  Lottie  Fowler,  Mrs.  Olive,  Mr.  Towns, 
Miss  Hudson,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fletcher  and  Mme. 
Esperance.  David  Duguid,  a  cabinet  maker  by  trade, 
became  a  Spiritist  in  1865  and  is  famous  for  his  pictures 
painted  in  trance  no  less  than  for  the  revelations  he  re- 
ceived, beginning  with  the  year  1869,  from  the  spirit 
of  the  Persian  Prince  Hafed.^  Mrs.  Emma  Harding 
began  her  career  as  trance-speaking  medium  in  1865^ 
and  was  followed  by  Mr.  Morse  in  1870.  But  the 
supreme  example  in  this  line  was  Cora  L.  V.  Tappan 
(later  Tappan  Richmond).  As  a  girl  of  twelve  she 
was  in  Ballou's  Community  at  Hopedale,  and  four 
years  later  she  became  famous  as  a  Spiritist-lecturer  in 
New  York.  She  believed  herself  when  in  trance  to 
speak  under  spirit  guidance.  In  1873  she  came  to 
England,  where  she  received  an  enthusiastic  welcome.^ 


At  the  beginning  of  the  movement  scientific  men  in 
general  were  inclined  to  look  upon  the  phenomena  with 
scorn,  treating  the  whole  thing  as  a  matter  of  trickery 
unworthy  of  attention.  But  gradually  this  attitude  was 
changed  and  scientists  began  to  institute  private  investi- 
gation.    In   the   autumn   of   1853   Count  Agenor  de 

^  "Hafed,  Prince  of  Persia;  His  Experiences  in  Earth-Life  and  Spirit- 
Life;  being  Communications  received  through  Mr.  David  Duguid,  the 
Glasgow  trance-painting  Medium.     Illustrated."     London,  James  Burns. 

°  See   her   "Extemporaneous  Addresses."     London,    1865. 

^  See  "Discourses  through  the  Mediumship  of  Cora  L.  V.  Tappan," 
London,  1875. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  33 

Gasparin  ^  carried  on  a  series  of  experiments  endeavor- 
ing to  prove  that  the  phenomena  were  not  to  be  attrib- 
uted to  the  agency  of  the  departed,  but  rather  to  some 
force  in  the  human  organism  which  stood  under  the  con- 
trol of  the  will.  He  was  assisted  by  M.  Thury,  Pro- 
fessor at  the  Academy  of  Geneva,  and  the  results  of  the 
investigations  were  published  in  de  Gasparin's  ''Des 
Tables  Tournantes,  du  Surnaturel  en  general  et  des 
E  sprits/'  ^ 

Dr.  Robert  Hare,  Professor  Emeritus  of  Chemistry 
at  the  University  of  Pennsylvania,  conducted  experi- 
ments with  various  mediums,  an  account  of  which  was 
published  in  18o5.'  In  1869  the  London  Dialectical 
Society  appointed  a  committee,  including  many  promi- 
nent medical  men  and  jurists,^  to  investigate  the  sub- 
ject. A  report  including  experiments  with  D.  D.  Home 
and  other  mediums  was  published  in  1871.'  The  most 
important  evidence  for  the  operation  of  a  new  force  is 
given  by  Sir  William  Crookes,  the  great  Chemist  and 
Physicist  who  in  the  years  1870-1873  conducted  experi- 
ments with  D.  D.  Home,  Miss  Cook  and  others.^ 

The  Psychological  Societj^  was  founded  in  London 
in  187,5  under  the  presidency  of  Sergeant  Cox  for  the 
promotion  of  Psychological  science  in  all  its  branches, 
the  main  subject  of  investigation  being  the  physical 
phenomena  of  Spiritism."  The  following  year  Professor 
W.  F.  Barrett  read  a  paper  before  the  British  Associa- 
tion, at  Glasgow,  on  "Some  Phenomena  Associated 
with  Abnormal  Conditions  of  Mind."'     In  1877-1878 


^  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  43-44. 
^  Geneva,  1855. 

^"Experimental  Investigations,   etc.,"  New  York,    1855.      See   Podmore, 
"Studies,   etc.,"   pp.   47-49. 

*  The  most  notable  were:    A.  R.  Wallace,  Sergeant  Cox,  Chas.  Bradlaugh, 
H.  G.  Atkinson,  and  Dr.  James  Edmunds. 

^  "Report  of  Spiritualism  by   the  Committee  of  the  London  Dialectical 
Society,"  London,  1871. 

^  "Researches  in  the  Phenomena  of  Spiritualism,"  London,  1875. 
'  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  p.   14. 

*  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,  p.   14. 


34  History  of  Modern  Spiritisin 

Professor  Johann  ZoUner  of  Leipzig,  assisted  by 
colleagues,  held  sittings  with  Slade.  But  much  credit 
can  not  be  given  to  his  investigation  when  we  bear  in 
mind  S lade's  bad  reputation  of  being  merely  a  skilled 
prestidigitator.  Frank  Podmore  seeks  further  to 
lessen  this  credit  on  the  ground  that  Zollner  was  ob- 
sessed with  the  idea  of  the  fourth  dimension,  evidence 
for  which  theory  he  found  in  Slade's  phenomena,^  but 
in  all  justice  we  think  it  must  be  said  that  this  theory 
was  rather  suggested  to  Zollner  by  the  phenomena  he 
had  witnessed  during  his  investigation. - 

Finally  in  1882  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
was  founded  under  the  Presidency  of  Professor  Henry 
Sidgwick  for  the  purpose  of  investigating  certain 
phenomena  "designated  by  such  terms  as  mesmeric, 
psychical  and  spiritualistic,"  ^  and  in  the  same  year  a 
similar  American  Society  came  into  being.  Since  that 
time  most  mediums  of  note  have  come  under  the  ob- 
servation of  members  of  the  Societies  the  results  of 
whose  investigations  will  be  found  recorded  in  the  Pro- 
ceedings and  the  Journal  published  at  regular  intervals 
bv  both  Societies. 


Among  later  mediums  we  shall  give  a  short  account 
of  three  only,  Mrs.  Piper,  Mrs.  Thompson,  and  Mme. 
Eusapia  Palladino,  whose  cases  are  typical  of  psychical 
and  physical  mediumship  respectively.  We  notice  also 
Mrs.  Verrall  and  Miss  Verrall,  Mrs.  Holland,'  Mrs. 
Forbes,'  and  the  Misses  Miles  and  Ramsden — all  trance- 
writing  mediums,  and  a  few  physical  mediums  who  have 
attracted  attention. 


'  Preliminary  Report  of  the  8eybert   Commission  on  Spiritualism,  see 
Podmore,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  71-80. 

-  His  "Transcendental  Physics." 

^  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  i. 

*  Mrs.  Holland  and  Mrs.  Forbes  are  both  assumed  names. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  35 

Mrs.  Piper'  of  Boston  had  visited  a  professional 
clairvoyant  for  medical  purposes,  and  at  a  second  visit 
she  herself  became  entranced  and  was  controlled  by  the 
spirit  of  an  Indian  girl  called  Chlorine.  This  was  in 
1884."  The  following  year  she  came  under  the  obser- 
vation of  Professor  William  James  of  Harvard,  who 
soon  became  convinced  of  her  genuine  powers  and  in 
1887  introduced  her  to  Dr.  Hodgson.  From  that  time 
she  has  been  in  almost  constant  relation  with  members 
of  the  English  and  American  Societies  for  Psychical 
Research.  She  was  now  for  a  long  time  almost  ex- 
clusively controlled  by  the  spirit  of  a  French  doctor 
who  revealed  himself  as  Phinuit,^  and  she  delivered  his 
communications  with  her  voice. 

In  February,  1892,  a  certain  George  Pelham  died. 
The  following  month  he  made  his  appearance  as  a  con- 
trol, in  which  capacity  he  is  usually  designated  as  G.  P. 
This  marks  the  beginning  of  the  second  period  in  Mrs. 
Piper's  mediumistic  career.  G.  P.  developed  communi- 
cation by  writing,  and  during  the  early  part  of  this 
period  there  was  the  double  control  of  Phinuit  and 
G.  P.,  the  former  talking  and  the  second  writing,  often 
at  the  same  time  and  on  different  subjects.^ 

The  second  period  lasted  till  1897,  when  Phinuit  made 
his  last  appearance  and  the  Imperator  Band — famous 
in  the  days  of  Mr.  Moses — assumed  the  position  of 
chief  controls.     Since  that  time  G.  P.  has  taken  a  very 


^  See  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick:  "A  contribution  to  the  study  of  Mrs. 
Piper's  Trance  Phenomena"  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxviii ;  cfr.  R.  Hodg- 
son in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xiii:284  et  seq.,  and  Podmore,  "Modern 
Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp.  333  et  seq.;  Oliver  Lodge,  "The  Survival  of  Man," 
pp.  190  et  seq.,  et  alibi  passim,  and  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxiii:  127-305; 
Hyslop,  "Science  and  a  Future  Life,"  pp.  113  et  seq.;  J.  G.  Piddington  in 
Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxii:  19-417. 

'Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  viii: 46-47. 

'  Three  reports  on  this  control  were  published :  W.  James  in  Proceed- 
ings, Am.  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  i,  English  Committee  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol. 
vi.,  R.  Hodgson  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  viii. 

*  The  second  period  was  reported  on  by  Hodgson  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R., 
vol.  xiii,  and  Newbold  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  xiv. 


36  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

subordinate  part  in  the  communications.  At  the  begin- 
ning of  the  third  period  voice  communications  were 
suspended  for  a  few  months  and  were  afterwards  but 
rarely  used.  The  convulsive  movements  which  hitherto 
had  accompanied  the  medium's  entrance  into  trance 
ceased  completely,  much  to  the  relief  both  of  jNIrs.  Piper 
and  her  circle.^ 

The  fourth  period  was  ushered  in  by  Hodgson's 
death  in  December  1905.  The  deceased  Psychical  Re- 
searcher, like  Gurney  and  Myers  before  him,  now  be- 
gan to  appear  as  control,  while  Rector  acting  under 
Imperator's  directions  played  the  main  role  in  such  ca- 
pacity. In  1906  Mrs.  Piper  visited  England,  where 
sittings  were  held  in  the  presence  of  Mr.  Piddington 
and  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  who  gave  their  reports  to  the 
Society.-  In  1908-09  she  had  sittings  with  Mr.  Dorr"' 
and  also  with  Dr.  Stanley  Hall  and  his  assistant,  Miss 
Amy  Tanner.^ 

Towards  the  end  of  1909  Mrs.  Piper  made  her  last 
trip  to  England.  She  was  not  in  good  health,  and 
seemed  to  have  lost  her  power  of  going  into  trance.  It 
was  not  until  May  the  following  year  that  the  power 
returned,  and  from  now  on  regular  sittings  were  re- 
sumed. Sir  Oliver  Lodge  conducted  some  in  the  autumn 
and  winter  of  1910-11  but  the  communications  were  ir- 
regular, trance  could  not  always  be  induced  and,  what 
was  worse,  when  induced  was  followed  by  a  state  of 
coma  which  made  recovery  very  difficult.  Finally  Im- 
perator  declared  that  the  trance  was  bad  for  Mrs.  Pij^er, 
that  the  seance  should  be  discontinued  and  that  the 
spirits  must  leave.  On  INIay  24th  he  took  final  leave, 
but  was  present  at  Mrs.  Piper's  last  seance,  which  was 

'  Reported :  Hyslop  sittings,  Proceedings,  »S'.  P.  R.,  vol.  xxvi,  and  Pro- 
ceedings, Am.  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  iv;  Junot  sittings.  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol. 
xxiv. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxii  and  xxiii  resp. 

^  See  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vol.  xxiv. 

*Who  reported  in  a  book:     "Studies  in  Spiritualism,"  New  York,  1910. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  37 

held  in  July,  1911,  and  which  is  remarkable  for  the  fact 
that  automatic  writing  developed  in  an  apparently 
normal  state. ^ 

The  communications  received  through  Mrs.  Piper 
would  relate  to  some  deceased  person,  or  to  the  past, 
present  and  future  of  those  still  in  the  flesh.  "Her  real 
strength,"  writes  Mr.  Podmore,^  "lies  in  describing  the 
diseases,  personal  idiosyncrasies,  thoughts,  feelings,  and 
character  of  the  sitter  and  his  friends ;  their  loves,  hates, 
quarrels,  sympathies,  and  mutual  relationships  in  gen- 
eral; trivial  but  significant  incidents  in  their  past  his- 
tories, and  the  like." 

Mrs.  Thompson's  "^  mediimiistic  career  shows  much 
similarity  to  that  of  Mrs.  Piper,  the  main  point  of  differ- 
ence being  that  while  the  latter's  mediumship  was  purely 
psychical,  the  former  produced  physical  as  well  as 
psychical  phenomena.  Her  first  seances  were  given  in 
1897  and  1898  usually  in  the  house  of  Mr.  F.  W. 
Thurstan,  who  would  invite,  besides  Mr.  and  Mrs. 
Thompson,  a  few  friends  to  take  part  in  the  sittings, 
which  took  place  in  a  double  room  with  curtains  separat- 
ing the  two  apartments.  The  one  room  would  be  with- 
out artificial  light,  and  the  other,  in  which  the  circle 
was  sitting,  illuminated  only  sufficiently  for  those  pres- 
ent to  distinguish  each  other. 

Her  main  controls  were  Nelly,  her  daughter,  who  had 
died  in  infancy,  Peter  Wharton,  who  abandoned  the 
medium  in  1897  and  gave  place  to  a  band  of  seven 
spirits,  four  of  whom  revealed  themselves  by  direct 
writing  as  Esther,  Charles  Wade,  Annie  and  a  name 
which  could  not  be  deciphered.  It  is  of  particular  inter- 
est to  note  that  about  a  year  after  the  death  of  Mr. 
Myers,  which  occurred  in  January,  1901,  he  appeared 
as  her  control. 


"^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxviii:  127-129. 
^"Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.  341. 

'  She  has  no  connection  with  Mrs.   Isaac   Thompson,  who  had  sittings 
with  Mrs.  Piper. 


38  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

The  physical  phenomena  were  of  the  usual  type,  in- 
cluding materialization,  but  she  seems  to  have  ceased  to 
sit  for  them  in  1898.  Her  trance  differs  from  that  of 
Mrs.  Piper  in  that  it  is  hardly  distinguishable  from  the 
normal  waking  state,  and  she  occasionally  receives 
clairvoyant  impressions  outside  of  the  seance  room. 

Her  trance  communications  have  been  carefully 
studied  by  several  members  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  and  the  late  Frederic  Myers,  with  whom  she 
was  well  acquainted,  ranked  her  with  W.  Stainton- 
Moses  and  Mrs.  Piper  as  one  of  the  world's  most 
famous  trance-mediums.^  Their  acquaintance  makes 
the  subsequent  Myers-control  doubly  interesting." 

A  peculiar  kind  of  automatic  script  emerged  in  1901  ^ 
under  the  hand  of  Mrs.  Verrall  which  has  come  to  be 
known  as  cross-correspondence.  It  consists  in  frag- 
mentary and  often  quite  unintelligible  writing  obtained 
by  two  or  more  mediums  simultaneously,  the  messages 
being  complementary  of  each  other  so  that  when  read 
together  or  interpreted  one  in  the  light  of  another  their 
liidden  sense  becomes  apparent.  Real  success  did  not 
come  until  1907,  when  the  famous  cross-correspondence 
took  place  between  Mrs.  Piper  in  London,  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall in  Cambridge,  and  Mrs.  Holland  in  Calcutta. 

The  phenomenon,  to  which  we  shall  return  in  an- 
other chapter,  has  been  investigated  by  Mr.  Frank 
Podmore,  Mr.  Piddington,  Professor  Pigou,  Miss 
Alice  Johnson,  Mr.  Dorr,  the  Right  Honorable  Gerald 
Balfour,  and  others. 


We  now  come  to  deal  with  another  type  of  medium- 
ship.     Eusapia  Palladino,  hailed  by  many  as  the  most 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xviii:67  et  seq. 

^  For  her  communications  see  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vols,  xvii,  xviii, 
and  XX ;  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  "The  8urvival  of  Man,"  pp.  228-312  et  alibi 
passim. 

^  See  Miss  Alice  Johnson  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:375  et  seq. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  39 

remarkable  of  physical  mediums,  was  born  on  January 
21,  1854,  according  to  one  account  in  the  village  of  La 
Pouille,^  and  to  another  at  Minervo  Murge  near  Bari 
in  Apulia.-  Her  mother  died  while  she  was  an  infant, 
and  her  father,  who  seems  to  have  been  murdered  by 
brigands  some  eight  or  twelve  years  later,"  placed  her  in 
the  hands  of  neighboring  peasants,  who  neglected  the 
child  and  when  she  was  only  one  year  old  allowed  her  to 
fall  and  injure  her  head.  This  is  the  origin  of  the 
cranial  opening  from  which,  during  her  seances,  a  cold 
breeze  is  often  reported  to  issue. 

At  the  death  of  her  father,  according  to  her  own  ac- 
count,^ she  was  taken  in  charge  by  a  Neapolitan,  who 
transferred  her  to  some  foreign  ladies  desirous  of  adopt- 
ing a  child.  For  almost  a  year  she  now  underwent  the 
ordeal  of  daily  bath,  instruction,  and  piano  lessons,  but 
civilization  had  no  charm  for  her  and  she  returned  to 
the  family  of  her  Neapolitan  friend.  It  was  in  their 
house  that  she  was  introduced  to  the  practice  of  table 
turning  and  soon  was  found  to  possess  mediumistic 
talents.  But  the  seances  failed  to  interest  her  and  after 
some  time  she  exchanged  them  for  laundress  work. 

Somewhat  later,  it  seems,  she  came  in  contact  with 
M.  Damiani,  an  Italian  medium  of  some  reputation, 
and  now  John  King  appeared — the  spirit  gentleman 
and  buccaneer  whose  acquaintance  we  have  made  in 
Mr.  Koons'  seance-room — to  remain  with  her  through- 
out her  mediumistic  career.^ 

Eusapia  was  married  at  Naples  to  Raphael  Delgaiz, 
a  merchant  of  modest  means  and  an  amateur  theatrical 
artist,  whose  store  she  helped  to  manage  and  from  whom 


^  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  p.  67. 
^  Carrington,  "Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  p.  23. 
^  Flammarion,  loc.  cit.,  and  Carrington,  loc.  cit. 

*  Mme.  Paola  Carrara's  account,  quoted  by  Carrington  in  Op  cit.,  pp.  20- 
25  et  aim  passim. 
'  Ibid. 


40  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

undoubtedly  she  learned  various  conjuring  tricks.^  She 
never  learned  to  read  and  write ;  her  language  is  that  of 
the  uneducated  Italians,  in  addition  to  which  she  speaks 
a  little  French.  When  Professor  Flammarion  met  her 
in  1897  she  was  "a  woman  of  very  ordinary  appearance, 
a  brunette,  her  figure  a  little  under  the  medium  height 

not    at    all    neurotic,    rather    stout."  -      Mme. 

Carrara  describes  her  as  "a  mixture  of  many  contrasts. 
She  is  a  mixture  of  silliness  and  maliciousness,  of  in- 
telligence and  ignorance,  of  strange  conditions  of  ex- 
istence  Her  appearance  and  words  seem  to  be 

quite  genuine  and  sincere.  She  has  not  the  manner  of 
one  who  either  poses  or  tricks  or  deceives  others."  She 
is  "outspoken,  sincere,  instinctive,  to  such  a  degree  that 
however  wonderful  may  be  the  tales  she  tells,  they  are 
true."  Mme.  Carrara  finds  her  not  ugly,  but  her  face 
is  marked  by  suffering  and  by  the  fatigue  resulting 
from  her  seances.      "She  has  magnificent  black  eyes, 

mobile  and  even  diabolical  in  expression Her 

hands  are  pretty,  her  feet  small."  She  seems  to  cherish 
her  appearance. 

In  the  Annals  of  Psychical  Science^  Mrs.  Finch — 
its  late  editor — -makes  very  bitter  attacks  upon  Eusapia, 
saying  that  most  of  her  sitters  are  deluded  or 
"glamoured"  by  her  mere  presence,  accuses  her  of  erotic 
tendencies,  and  asserts  that  she  holds  her  sitters  spell- 
bound by  the  very  fact  that  she  is  a  woman.  But  JNIr. 
Carrington  rises  to  her  defense,  vehementlj^  denouncing 
Mrs.  Finch's  attempt  to  sully  her  character.^  Her 
"erotic  tendencies,"  however,  can  not  escape  the  notice 
of  one  who  reads  the  accounts  of  her  seances. 

In  her  trance-state,  which  was  usually  light  and  not 
hypnotic,  John  King  would  claim  to  take  possession 


^Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  p.   19. 
2  Op.  cit.,  p.  07. 
Muly-September,  1909. 
*  Op.  cit.,  pp.  339  et  seq. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  41 

of  her  and  through  her  hps  would  address  himself  to 
the  circle  before  which  she  was  exhibiting  her  powers. 
If  we  except  John  King's  occasional  admonitions,  her 
phenomena  were  exclusively  of  a  physical  character,  the 
most  notable  consisting  of  levitations,  telekinesis,  ma- 
terializations, and  impressions  of  hands  and  faces. 

Professor  Lombroso  came  to  Naples  in  1891,*  where 
he  held  sittings  with  her  for  the  purpose  of  verifying 
current  reports  regarding  the  marvels  she  exhibited. 
Although  loth  to  admit  the  spiritistic  theory  of  their 
causation  he  nevertheless  returned  convinced  that  the 
phenomena  which  he  had  witnessed  were  genuine.  His 
testimony  led  to  new  investigations,  carried  on  by 
scientists  and  scientific  committees  for  nearly  twenty 
years.  We  shall  return  to  these  in  greater  detail  in  our 
chapter  on  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena.  Her 
first  set-back  came  in  Cambridge  in  1895  where  all  her 
marvels  were  declared  fraudulent.  But  thanks  to  her 
Continental  admirers  and  investigators  she  soon  was  re- 
habilitated and  after  a  series  of  successful  sittings  with 
eminent  French,  Italian,  Russian  and  Polish  savants,  her 
case,  which  had  been  dropped  by  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  after  the  Cambridge  exposures,  was 
reconsidered  by  that  body,  and  the  investigating  Com- 
mittee, composed  of  skeptics,  pronounced  a  verdict  in 
favor  of  genuine  phenomena.  After  this  new  triumph 
Eusapia  came  to  the  United  States,  where,  however,  she 
failed  miserably  and  was  caught  in  flagrant  fraud.  Sub- 
sequent attempts  to  patch  up  her  case  were  of  no  avail, 
and  her  New  York  sittings  may  be  said  to  mark  the 
sad  end  of  her  illustrious  career. 

Physical  mediumship  of  much  the  same  description 
as  that  of  Eusapia  Palladino  does  not  lack  modern 
representatives.  Among  the  best  known  mediums  we 
shall  mention  Auguste  Politi  of  Rome,  whose  phenomena 


^  See  M.  Ciolfi's  report  in  Annates  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  181,  p.  326. 


42  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

were  examined  by  de  Rochas  in  Paris  in  1902  and  in 
Rome  in  1904/  Sambor,  who  gave  nmnerous  seances 
in  St.  Petersburg  between  the  years  1897  and  1902,^ 
the  American,  Miller,  who  in  1904  appeared  in  Paris, ^ 
and  Mile.  Tomczyk,  who  was  studied  by  Dr.  Ochorowicz 
in  Varsovie.^  Francesco  Carancini  discovered  his 
mediumship  at  one  of  Politi's  seances,  came  under  the 
observation  of  Baron  von  Erhardt  in  Rome  in  1908,  and 
in  the  following  j'^ear  performed  in  England  before 
Feilding  and  Sir  William  and  Lady  Crookes  and 
others.^ 


Although  scientific  investigation  had  laid  bare  an 
overwhelming  amount  of  fraud  in  spiritistic  perform- 
ances, and  in  various  theories  had  offered  a  more  or  less 
natural  explanation  of  whatever  could  not  be  attributed 
to  fraud,  the  vast  number  of  Spiritists  adhered  to  the 
old  opinion  of  spirit  intervention.  This  belief  was 
elaborated  and  systematized  by  a  great  many  writers, 
and  the  most  complete  account,  probably,  of  the  meta- 
physics of  later  Spiritism  is  to  be  found  in  ''The 
Mechanis7n  of  Man'  by  Sergeant  Cox.  Cox  attributed 
the  phenomena  to  the  extra  corporeal  action  of  the  hu- 
man soul.  Man,  according  to  his  theory,  consists  of  two 
parts,  body  and  soul.  But  the  soul  is  material  like  the 
body,  having  the  same  shape,  parts  and  magnitude,  as 
a  fact,  a  spirit  is  not  and  cannot  be  immaterial.  But 
the  soul  is  not  grossly  material,  "Its  substance  is  vastly 
more  refined  than  the  thinnest  gas  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted." It  possesses  will  and  intellect,  and  does  not 
disintegrate  with  the  death  of  the  body.     It  is  exempt 

^  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  pp.  368  et  seq. 
^  Count  Solovovo  in  Annates  des  Sciences  Psychiques,   1902. 
^  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,   1906,  pp.   501,  591   et  seq. 
*  Annals  of  Psychical  Science,   1909,  pp.   271-284,  333-399,  515-533. 
^  W.  W.  Baggally,  "Some  Sittings  with  Carancini"  in  Journal,  S.  P.  R., 
xiv:  193-211. 


History  of  Modern  Spiritism  43 

from  gravity  and  has  the  power  to  communicate  this  ex- 
emption to  hodies.  It  can  flow  through  visible 
"molecular"  matter  and  has  enlarged  powers  of  per- 
ception dependent  upon  aerial  or  ethereal  undulations, 
and  so  forth.^ 

Other  notions  are  found  in  the  writings  of  Dr.  Hare,' 
who  tells  us  that  spirits  differ  from  one  another  in 
destiny,  and  that  they  have  a  circulation  system  through 
which  passes  a  fluid  and  also  organs  for  respiration. 
Mr.  Cromwell  Varley^  considers  thoughts  to  be  "solid." 
But  there  is  very  little  of  the  commodity  among  the 
Spiritists,  and  Cox's  philosophy  seems  to  have  survived 
to  the  present  generation. 

Trance  speaking  and  writing  have  played  an  im- 
portant part  in  Spiritism  as  a  religious  movement,  and 
the  "inspired"  writings  of  W.  Stainton-Moses  form  its 
older  Gospel.  According  to  him  the  phenomena  in  gen- 
eral are  ascribed  to  the  spirits  of  the  dead  whose  reve- 
lations are  to  form  the  basis  of  a  future  world-wide 
Religion.^  This  idea  is  to  a  certain  extent  adopted  by 
Myers,  who  makes  its  exposition  the  concluding  chapter 
of  "Humaii  Personality."  But  while  Moses  in  his 
''Spirit  Teachings"  makes  himself  an  exponent  of 
rather  free  Protestantism,  Myers'  ideas  have  already 
abandoned  even  the  most  essential  elements  of  Chris- 
tianity, and  in  this  tendency  he  has  been  followed  by 
nearly  all  educated  prophets  of  Spiritism.  Perhaps  no 
work  dealing  with  Spiritism  as  a  religious  revelation  has 
created  more  sensation  than  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  "Ray- 
mond," a  product  of  the  present  war.  Among  our  pres- 
ent major  prophets  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  takes  a 
prominent  place,  flooding  cheap  magazines  with  sen- 
sational articles  in  which  he  with  enviable  dogmatic  con- 


^  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  35-36. 

^  "Spirit  Manifestations." 

^Dialectical  Report,  p.   172. 

*  See  his  "Spirit  Teachings" — "M.  A.    (Oxon) 


4,4  History  of  Modern  Spiritism 

viction  extols  vague  and  undigested  doctrines  at  the  ex- 
pense of  the  dark  superstition  of  traditional  Chris- 
tianity. The  minor  prophets  and  their  various  teachings 
defy  enumeration. 


In  1855  there  were  two  millions  of  Spiritists  in  the 
United  States,  twelve  or  fourteen  periodicals  were  de- 
voted to  the  cause  of  the  movement,  lectures  were  given 
every  day  of  the  year  and  spiritistic  circles  were  held 
day  and  night  in  nearly  every  city,  town  and  village 
throughout  the  country.^  Since  then  the  number  both 
of  adherents  and  of  publications  has  increased.  In  1887 
there  were  about  one  hundred  newspapers  dealing  with 
the  philosophy  and  phenomena  of  Spiritism,  thirty  of 
which  were  published  in  the  English  language — the  ma- 
jority circulating  in  the  United  States — and  forty  in 
Spanish. 

There  is  no  exact  or  reliable  information  concern- 
ing the  number  of  adherents  at  the  present  time.  Since 
the  outbreak  of  the  war  the  movement  in  its  popular, 
religious  form  seems  to  have  gained  considerably  in 
England  where,  if  we  are  to  believe  recent  accounts,  a 
veritable  frenzy  of  spirit  consultation  has  seized  those 
who  have  lost  dear  relatives  and  friends  in  the  struggle." 


'  ]\'orth  American  Review,  April,  1855. 

=  See   "Spiritism  in  England,"  by  Robert  Mountsier   in   The  Bookman, 
January,  1918. 


CHAPTER  II. 

Physical  Phenomena. 

The  phenomena  of  Spiritism  may  be  classified  in  two 
groups,  Physical  and  Psychical.  In  making  this  classi- 
fication we  do  not  attempt  to  base  ourselves  on  the 
cause  or  causes,  whether  claimed  or  established,  of  the 
phenomena,  for  the  question  of  their  source  or  soiu'ces 
will  be  the  subject  of  later  discussion.  We  merely  look 
to  their  general,  prima  facie  appearance  as  being  of  a 
physical  or  a  psychical  character,  and  classify  them  ac- 
cordingly. In  this  and  the  two  following  chapters, 
therefore,  we  shall  attempt  under  proper  headings  to 
present  the  main  and  more  typical  phenomena  as  de- 
scribed by  eye  witnesses  of  repute,  chiefly  in  the  publi- 
cations of  men  and  societies  devoted  to  investigation  of 
Spiritism. 


The  Physical  Phenomena  appear  as  effects  produced 
in  physical  substances  and  often  occur  in  connection 
with  external  objects  such  as  pieces  of  furniture,  house- 
hold objects  and  human  bodies.  They  may  be  said  to 
be  external  manifestations  apparently  of  occult  agen- 
cies, mediately  through  some  physical  object  or  sub- 
stance. While  they  show  considerable  variation  they 
may  be  separated  into  two  groups,  one  of  which  includes^ 
mainly  such  effects  as  locomotion,  counteraction  of 
gravitation,  and  percussion — or,  in  general,  the  ap- 
plication of  a  seemingly  physical  force  to  objects,  the 
other  embracing  phenomena  suggesting  a  more  pro- 
found alteration  in  physical  nature  or  implying  the  con- 
veyance of  intelligence  by  physical  means.  The 
phenomena  of  the  first  group  consist  in  movements  of 


46  Physical  Phenomena 

inanimate  objects,  apport,  change  in  weight,  levitation, 
touches  and  sounds,  while  the  second  group  embraces 
elongation,  ability  to  touch  burning  substances,  pro- 
duction of  inanimate  substances,  materialization,  im- 
pressions, spirit-photography,  direct  spirit  messages 
and  spirit  voices.  To  each  group  we  shall  give  a 
separate  chapter. 


1.  Movement  of  inanimate  objects.  To  this  group 
belong  some  of  the  earliest  and  most  common  perform- 
ances of  the  seance-room,  consisting  of  slow  or  rapid, 
sometimes  violent,  movements  principally  of  tables  or 
other  pieces  of  furniture,  but  also  of  other  objects  of  all 
descriptions,  opening  and  closing  of  doors,  and  in  gen- 
eral the  upheavals  known  as  Poltergeist-performances, 
all  effected  with  or  without  contact  with  the  performer, 
but  not  always  without  visible  physical  exertion  on  his 
part.  The  motive  power  either  seems  to  emanate  from 
the  performer,  who  as  in  the  case  of  Eusapia  Palladino 
often  becomes  exhausted,  or  to  be  supplied  by  some  in- 
visible agency. 

The  commonest  forms  of  movement  of  this  kind  are 
table  turning  and  table  tilting  or  levitation,  which  often 
constitute  the  initial  stage  of  a  spiritistic  seance.  The 
sitters  having  formed  a  chain  by  placing  their  hands  on 
the  table,  the  latter  begins  a  rotary  movement,  which 
sometimes  continues  after  the  hands  have  been  lifted  a 
short  distance  from  the  surface.  Occasionally  the  move- 
ment becomes  quite  rapid,  the  table  dancing  about  on  the 
floor.  Table  tilting  has  been  described  in  the  chapter 
dealing  with  the  history  of  Spiritism.'  Usually  one 
end  or  corner  of  the  table  rises  a  short  distance  from  the 
floor,  remains  for  a  few  moments  in  the  raised  position 
and  falls  back.  Less  often  the  whole  table  is  raised, 
first  one  end,  then  the  other.     This  effect  is  more  easily 

1  See  p.  22. 


Physical  Phenomena  47 

obtained  when  the  hands  rest  upon  the  table,  but  re- 
markable levitations  have  been  observed  when  the 
medium  alone  has  held  one  or  both  hands  above  its  sur- 
face. 

Mr.  Sergeant  Cox  records  levitations  three  inches 
from  the  floor  of  a  solid  mahogany  table  six  feet  wide 
and  nine  feet  long.  They  took  place  in  broad  light,  Cox 
and  the  medium  standing  on  each  side  of  the  table,  two 
feet  away  from  it  and  holding  their  hands  above  the 
surface.^  Eusapia  Palladino's  seances  afford  many  ex- 
amples of  this  phenomenon.  With  her,  complete  levi- 
tations are  very  frequent,  thp  table  rising  4  to  8,  and, 
exceptionally,  24  to  27,  inches  from  the  floor. - 

Some  interesting  photographs  have  been  taken  dur- 
ing experiments  with  table  levitation.  One  made  by 
M.  G.  de  Fontenoy  shows  the  table  lifted  twenty-five 
centimetres  from  the  floor,  the  hands  of  two  sitters 
plainly  being  seen  on  the  table  while  the  other  two 
sitters  are  engaged  in  "controlling"  Palladino,  the 
medium,  whose  hands  and  feet,  which  are  in  full  view, 
do  not  touch  the  table. ^  Another  taken  at  Auteuil  by 
M.  Guerronnau  gives  an  excellent  view  of  a  high  and 
complete  levitation  without  contact.^  Similar  photo- 
graphs were  taken  at  seances  before  the  French 
Psychological  Institute  ^  and  at  sittings  with  the  medium 
Politi  held  in  Paris  in  1902.*^ 

During  experiments  the  writer  noticed  that  the  table 
— usually  a  large  flower  table — when  levitated,  in  spite 
of  his  efforts,  could  not  be  pressed  back  to  the  floor.  At 
the  Palladino  seances  it  was  observed  that  pressure  on 
the  levitated  table  gave  a  sensation  of  floating  on  water 


^  "What  am  If"  quoted  by   F.   W.   H.   Myers   in  Proceedings,   8.   P.   /?.,, 
ix:259,  foot  note. 

-  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  p.   154. 

^  Idem,  opposite  p.  82. 

*  Idem,  opposite  p.   174. 

^  Flournoy,  "Spiritism  and  Psychology,"  opposite  p.   270. 

"  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  opposite  p.  368. 


48  Physical  Phenomena 

or  on  some  elastic  fluid.'  On  one  occasion  Professor 
Lonibroso  estimated  that  it  required  a  pressure  of 
twelve  to  fifteen  pounds  to  force  the  table  down.-  But 
we  have  examples  of  much  greater  force  being  in 
activity.  When  a  certain  young  boy  played  the  piano, 
the  instrument  would  become  levitated.  When  two  per- 
sons tried  to  prevent  the  levitation  by  leaning  with  all 
their  might  on  the  corners  of  the  piano  one  of  two  things 
would  happen:  the  levitation  would  take  place  in  spite 
of  their  efforts,  or  the  music  stool  with  the  player  would 
be  pushed  back.^  Professor  Flammarion,  who  saw  the 
piano  in  question,  calculated  that  it  would  require  an 
upward  pressure,  in  one  case  of  about  165,  in  another 
of  about  440  pounds  to  lift  the  key-board  edge  of  the 
instrument.^ 

Movement  of  other  objects  without  contact  is  a  fre- 
quent occurrence  in  the  seance-room.  Furniture  at  a 
distance  from  the  sitters  will  move  along  the  floor  in 
slow  or  lively  gait,  pictures  will  be  torn  from  the  walls 
and  again  be  replaced,  bric-a-brac  will  leave  mantel- 
pieces or  tables,  dart  about  in  the  air  or  be  placed  in  the 
lap  or  pockets  of  those  present,  burning  coals  will  fly 
from  the  fireplace,  and  so  on. 

At  one  of  Sir  William  Crookes'  sittings  with  D.  D. 
Home  a  lath,  two  feet  long  and  one  and  one-half  inches 
wide,  covered  with  white  paper  to  make  it  more  easily 
visible,  was  lying  on  the  table,  the  sitters  having  formed 
a  chain  with  their  hands  away  from  the  table.  The 
lath  presently  began  to  rise,  first  one  end  reaching  a 
height  of  ten  inches  above  the  table,  then  the  other  end 
half  this  distance.  For  a  period  of  about  one  minute 
the  lath  continued  floating  in  this  position,  much  like  a 


^  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  opposite  p.  5.  Same  sensation  with  Mile.  Huet 
as  medium,  p.  37. 

^  Idem,  p.  144. 

^Thury:  "Les  Tables  Tournantes,"  quoted  by  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p. 
275. 

*  Flammarion :    Op.  cit.,  p.  275. 


Physical  Phenomena  49 

piece  of  wood  on  a  small  wave  of  the  sea.  It  then 
gradually  descended  to  the  table,  begmning  with  the 
lower  end.  The  phenomenon  was  repeated  and  this 
time  Sir  William  was  able  to  reassure  himself  that  the 
lath  was  not  touched,  Home  sitting  at  least  three 
feet  distant  from  it.^ 

Another  interesting  phenomenon  was  produced  by 
Home  in  Sir  William's  presence.  A  wire  cage  had  been 
placed  under  the  table  and  in  this  cage  an  accordion  was 
held  in  Home's  left  hand  which  reached  down  between 
the  upper  edge  of  the  cage  and  the  top  of  the  table. 
His  right  hand  rested  on  the  table.  The  accordion  thus 
vertically  suspended  in  the  cage  with  its  lower  end  con- 
taining the  key-board  quite  free  presently  began  to 
play  and  continued  to  do  so  after  it  had  been  lifted  out 
of  the  cage  and  left  levitated  in  the  air  without  support. 
The  experiment  was  repeated  and  this  time  the  ac- 
cordion was  left  by  itself  in  the  cage,  where  it  began  to 
play  while  floating  about  unsupported. - 

The  Palladino  seances  were  rich  in  phenomena  of 
this  kind.  She  always  sat  before  the  seance  table  with 
her  back  turned  to  the  "cabinet,"  which  was  a  corner 
partitioned  from  the  rest  of  the  room  by  means  of  a 
pair  of  curtains.  The  advent  of  phenomena  was  almost 
invariably  heralded  by  an  inflation  of  the  curtain,  giving 
the  impression  that  it  was  pushed  out  by  a  strong  gust 
of  air  from  the  cabinet.  At  times  the  curtain  would 
protrude  so  far  as  to  envelop  the  medium  or  one  of  the 
sitters.  Various  articles  would  now  begin  to  move.  A 
violin,  a  tambourine,  a  table,  a  bell  or  a  book,  which 
previously  had  been  placed  in  the  cabinet,  would  be 
thrown  on  the  table,  be  pushed  along  the  floor  or  would 
sail  about  in  the  air.  Often  considerable  force  was  dis- 
played. The  violin  would  be  hurled  upon  the  table,  ob- 
jects would  be  wrenched  from  the  hands  of  an  experi- 

^  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vi:  11 1-1 12. 

^  "Researches  in  BpiriUialism"  pp.   12  et  seq. 


50  Physical  Phenomena 

menter  and  returned  to  the  cabinet,  or  pieces  of  furni- 
ture moved  on  the  floor  and  upset.  It  is  recorded  how  a 
chair  weighing  twenty-two  pounds  suffered  this  fate, 
how  a  big  divan  was  seen  approaching  the  circle,  how 
a  small  table  advanced  towards  Professor  Lombroso, 
one  of  the  sitters,  who  took  it  between  his  hands  but  in 
spite  of  his  efforts  was  unable  to  hold  it,  and  how  a 
music  box  was  presented  to  the  curtain  where  it  was 
seized  and  thrown  back,  wounding  a  gentleman  present 
by  striking  him  beneath  the  left  eye.^ 

Other  peculiarities  were  observed  in  connection  with 
these  phenomena.  A  small  table,  a  violin,  a  chair  or 
other  objects  would  approach  one  of  the  sitters,  en- 
deavoring to  climb  up  his  legs.  Occasionally  the  climb- 
ing would  be  successful  and  the  object  would  place  it- 
self in  the  lap  of  the  gentleman  in  question.  At  other 
times  they  would  climb  and  place  themselves  upon  the 
table.  Again  it  was  observed  how  on  approaching  one 
of  the  sitters  the  small  table  would  hesitate,  seem  to 
struggle  between  different  desires  and  finally  continue 
its  course. - 

Objects  were  often  heard  moving  about  in  the  cabinet. 
Mme.  Flammarion  relates  the  following  incident :  '^ 

"Up  to  the  moment  when  the  event  that  I  am  going 
to  relate  took  place,  Mme.  Brisson  had  remained  almost 
as  incredulous  as  I,  apropos  of  the  phenomena,  and 
she  had  just  been  expressing  to  me  in  a  low  tone  her  re- 
gret at  not  having  yet  seen  anything  herself,  when,  all 
of  a  sudden,  the  curtain  behind  Eusapia  began  to  shake 
and  move  gracefully  back,  as  if  lifted  by  an  invisible 
curtain  band — and  what  do  I  see?     The  little  table  on 


'Various  reports  on  sittings  with  Eusapia  Palladino  in  Paris  1898,  and 
in  Milan  189!),  in  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  pp.  96,  125, 
98,  94,  97,   ir)(),  90,   114. 

°  Various  reports  on  seances  in  Naples  and  Paris,  in  Flammarion,  Op. 
cit..  pp.  99-100,  145,  114,  125,  146-50. 

•^  Mme.  Flammarion's  notes  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  126-127;  cfr.  M. 
Mathieu's  report  on  seance  Nov.  25,  1898,  Ibid.,  p.  113. 


Physical  Phenomena  51 

three  feet,  and  leaping  (apparently  in  high  spirits)  over 
the  floor,  at  the  height  of  about  eight  inches,  while  the 
gilded  tambourine  is  in  its  turn  leaping  gaily  at  the 
same  height  above  the  table,  and  noisily  tinkling  its 
bells. 

"Stupefied  with  wonder,  quick  as  I  can  pull  Mme. 
Brisson  to  my  side,  and,  pointing  with  my  finger  at  what 
is  taking  place,  'Look!'  said  I. 

"And  then  the  table  and  the  tambourine  begin  their 
carpet-dance  again  in  perfect  unison,  one  of  them  fall- 
ing forcibly  upon  the  floor  and  the  other  upon  the  table. 
Mme.  Brisson  and  I  could  not  help  bursting  out  into 
laughter;  for,  indeed,  it  was  too  funny!" 

Movements  of  objects  would  sometimes  follow 
Eusapia's  or  Prof.  Flammarion's  movements  synchroni- 
cally,  and  the  curtains  were  found  at  times  to  become 
inflated  at  the  gestures  of  sitters.^  We  shall  find  a 
parallel  to  this  when  treating  of  the  phenomenon  of 
sounds. 

Another  variation  of  the  phenomenon  consists  in 
movement  of  the  keys  of  a  musical  instrument,  without 
contact,  often  in  a  manner  to  produce  pieces  of  music. 
We  have  mentioned  Home's  prestations  with  the  ac- 
cordion. The  phenomenon  was  reproduced  by  Eusapia 
Palladino.  M.  Flammarion  was  holding  an  accordion, 
just  purchased  by  him,  vertically  suspended  in  the  air 
with  the  keys  down  and  near  the  medium,  whose  hands, 
however,  could  not  touch  it.  After  the  lapse  of  five  to 
six  seconds  the  bellows  began  to  be  moved  and  at  the 
same  time  music  was  heard.  M.  Flammarion  now  let 
go  of  the  accordion,  which  remained  "as  if  glued  to  the 
curtain."     Once  more  it  began  to  play,  no  one  holding 


^  M.  Mathieu's  report  on  seance,  Nov.  25,  and  M.  Armelin's  report  on 
seance,  Nov.  21,  both  in  Paris  1898,  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  111-113, 
103  et  seq. 


52  Phjjsical  Phenomena 

it,  and  while  playing  it  moved  to  the  middle  of  the  table.^ 
An  account  of  a  piano  producing  music  without  being 
touched  will  be  found  in  Flammarion's  work  to  which 
we  often  have  made  reference." 


2.  A p port.  Apport  of  various  objects  into  the 
seance-room  is  a  rather  frequently  witnessed  phenom- 
enon. It  consists  in  an  object  being,  as  it  were,  car- 
ried by  invisible  hands  from  one  room  to  another  or 
transported  from  the  outside  to  the  circle  of  sitters.  At 
times  objects  already  in  the  seance-room  are  moved  in 
a  manner  which  gives  the  impression  of  conveyance  by 
invisible  hands.  Dr.  Spear  tells  how  in  the  Reverend 
Mr.  Moses'  home  on  the  Isle  of  Man  invisible  hands 
brought  various  toilet  articles,  etc.,  to  the  center  of  Mr. 
Moses'  bed,  arranging  them  in  the  shape  of  a  cross, 
Moses'  clerical  collar  forming  the  halo  around  the  up- 
per portion  thereof.^ 

At  a  seance  held  with  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Spear,  Moses  re- 
lates how  the  spirit  "Dicky  came  and  brought  ve^-y 
gently  an  ivory  piece  of  puzzle  from  the  drawing-room." 
At  Moses'  request  "he  fetched  another.  After  this," 
Mr.  Moses  continues,  "I  felt  something  crawling  over 
my  right  hand  (which  ]Mrs.  Spear  held)  and  coidd  not 
make  out  what  it  was.  When  a  light  was  struck  we  found 
it  to  be  a  marker  from  Mrs.  Spear's  bedroom.  It  had 
crawled  over  my  hand,  and  was  placed  directly  in  front 
of  her,  with  the  legend  'God  is  our  refuge  and  strength' 
right  before  her  eyes."  ^ 

Similar  phenomena  are  abundantly  recorded  from 
Palladino's  seances.  At  a  sitting  in  Paris  in  1898  a 
cushion  upon  which  a  member  of  the  circle  was  resting 
his  elbows  was  suddenly  snatched  away  from  him  and 


'  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.   121-122. 
=  p.  369. 

^Proceedings,  H.  P.  R.,  xi:265. 
«Ibid.,  ix:311. 


Physical  Phenomena  53 

thrown  against  a  mirror/  At  another  sitting  M.  Levy " 
tells  us  how  "a  force"  has  been  abusing  M.  Mathieu, 
another  sitter,  and  while  this  gentleman  "is  complaining 
of  the  violence  used  upon  him,  we  hear  the  sound  of  the 
tambourine,  which  is  then  quickly  thrown  upon  the 
table.  Next  the  violin  arrives  in  the  same  manner.  .  .  . 
I  seize  the  tambourine  and  ask  the  Invisible  if  he  wishes 
to  take  it.  I  feel  a  hand  grasping  the  instrument.  I 
am  not  willing  to  let  it  go.  A  struggle  now  ensues  be- 
tween myself  and  a  force  which  I  judge  to  be  con- 
siderable. In  the  tussle  a  violent  effort  pushes  the 
tambourine  into  my  hand,  and  the  cymbals  penetrate 
the  flesh.  I  feel  a  sharp  pang,  and  a  good  deal  of  blood 
flows.  I  let  go  of  the  handle.  I  just  now  ascertain,  by 
the  light,  that  I  have  a  deep  gash  under  the  right  thumb 
nearly  an  inch  long." 

A  book  held  before  the  curtain  was  seized,  and  in  like 
manner  a  cigarette  holder  which  later  was  thrown  into 
the  seance-room  through  the  cleft  between  the  curtains. 
Twigs  of  different  trees  were  carried  into  the  room 
through  the  open  window.'^  Another  time  a  glass  half 
full  of  water  standing  on  a  buffet  out  of  reach  of  the 
sitters  was  carried  in  complete  darkness  and  with  great 
precision  to  the  lips  of  three  persons  present  who  drank 
of  it.^  A  carafe  is  reported  by  M.  Porro  to  have  moved 
from  one  table  to  another,  flowers  were  put  in  the  mouth 
of  a  sitter,  the  carafe  came  to  the  mouth  of  the  medium, 
who  was  made  to  drink  from  it  twice — in  between  the 
two  times  it  sank  down  to  the  table,  where  it  stood  up- 
right for  a  moment  ^ — a  guitar  was  lifted  from  the  wall 


'  M.  Armelin's  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  21,  1898,  in  Flammarion, 
Op.  cit.,  p.   109. 

^  His  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  16,  1898.     Ibid.,  p.  89. 

'  M.  Mathieu's  report  on  seance  in  Paris  Nov.  25,  1898,  Ibid.,  pp.  113, 
112. 

M.  le  Bon's  report  on  seance  in  Paris  Nov.  28.     Ibid.,  p.  201. 

M.  Claretie's  report  on  seance  in  Paris  Nov.  25.     Ibid.,  p.  99. 

*  Report  of  M.  de  Siemiradski  on  sittings  in  Rome  1893-94,  Ibid.,  p.  163. 

^In  Op.  cit.,  p.  182. 


.54  Physical  Phenomena 

where  it  was  hanging,  approached  the  circle  with  great 
rapidity,  making  changes  in  its  course;  it  then  struck 
three  blows  on  the  forehead  of  one  sitter,  which  became 
bruised,  and  came  to  rest  very  quietly  on  the  table. 
Finally  a  heavy  typewriter  was  brought  from  one  table 
to  another.^ 

The  apparent  passing  of  objects  through  solid  sub- 
stances has  frequently  been  reported  from  sittings  with 
mediums.  Among  the  objects  brought  into  Mr.  Moses' 
seance-room  when  the  doors  were  securely  closed  we 
may  mention  a  blue  enamel  cross,  a  snuff  box,  a  candle 
stick,  a  biscuit,  a  pair  of  Sevres  salad  tongs,  gravel,  a 
marble  statuette,  a  chamois  horn,  flowers,  seed  pearls, 
a  silver  salver,  large  stones  and  various  gems. 

Other  peculiar  phenomena  of  somewhat  the  same  type 
were  observed  by  Professor  Zollner  in  Leipzig  during 
his  experiments  with  Slade  1877-78.  Coins  were  taken 
out  from  securely  closed  and  sealed  boxes,  and  other 
things  put  into  them,  rings  strung  to  a  piece  of  catgut 
and  sealed  were  freed  and  put  round  the  leg  of  the  table, 
knots  were  tied  on  an  endless  cord  and  a  table  laid  it- 
self to  rest  under  another  table,  stretched  its  legs  across 
the  floor  and  finally  entirely  vanished  out  of  the  room 
and  returned  from  the  ceiling.^ 

From  the  Palladino  seances  we  record  the  passing  of 
a  book  through  the  cabinet  curtain.  It  was  at  a  seance 
given  in  Paris  in  1898,  and  we  quote  M.  Flammarion: 
"Jules  Bois  presents  a  book  before  the  curtain  at  about 
the  height  of  a  man  standing  upright.  The  salon  is 
dimly  lighted — yet  objects  are  seen  with  distinctness. 
An  invisible  hand  behind  the  curtain  seizes  the  book. 
Then  all  the  observers  see  it  disappear  as  if  it  had  passed 
tlirough  the  curtain."  Mme.  Flammarion,  quite  skepti- 
cal about  the  phenomena  and  hoping  to  detect  fraud 

'  Reports  on  seances  in  Paris  1898,  in  Flammarion,  ^^ Mysterious 
Psychic  Forces,"  pp.  109,  87,  113,  112. 

^"Transcendental  Physics,"  pp.  50-51,  17-18.  90-91. 


Physical  Phenomena  55 

and  unmask  the  medium,  had  ghded  past  the  windows 
to  the  rear  of  the  curtain.  "Suddenly  the  book  appears 
to  her,  it  having  passed  through  the  curtain — upheld  in 
the  air,  without  hands  or  arms,  for  a  space  of  one  or 
two  seconds.  Then  she  sees  it  fall  down.  She  cries, 
'Oh!  the  book:  it  has  just  passed  through  the  curtain!' 
and,  pale  and  stupefied  with  wonder,  she  abruptly  re- 
tires among  the  observers."^ 

In  the  presence  of  the  Russian  medium  Sambor 
phenomena  of  still  more  astounding  nature  appeared. - 
A  chair  was  lifted  from  under  its  occupant  and  en- 
deavored to  hang  itself  on  the  hand  with  which  he  was 
holding  the  medium.  It  then  suddenly  disappeared 
from  that  gentleman's  arm  and  was  felt  pressing  upon 
the  arm  of  the  narrator,  the  hand  of  which  was  holding 
that  of  a  neighbor.  When  the  light  was  turned  on,  it 
became  evident  to  all  those  present  that  the  arm  in 
question  had  passed  through  the  back  of  the  chair.  At 
a  later  seance  the  phenomenon  was  again  produced  after 
the  hands  concerned  had  been  joined  with  a  strip  of 
cloth." 


3.  Change  in  weight  of  objects.  This  phenomenon 
was  produced  by  Mr.  Home,  among  others,  before  Sir 
William  Crookes  and  a  friend  of  his.  Dr.  A.  B.,  all 
precautions  against  fraud  having  been  taken.  Sir 
William  had  fitted  up  an  apparatus  consisting  of  a  ma- 
hogany board,  thirty-six  inches  long  by  nine  and  one- 
half  inches  wide  and  one  inch  thick,  one  end  of  which 
rested  on  a  firm  table,  the  other  being  attached  to  a 
spring  balance  with  self-registering  index.  The  ap- 
paratus was  adjusted  to  hold  the  mahogany  board 
horizontally,  in  which  position  its  weight  was  registered 

'  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  pp.   129-130. 
"Count  Petrovo   Solovovo's   report  on   seances  in    1901   in  Annales  des 
Sciences  Psychiques,  1902 — see  Flammarion,  Op.  eit.,  p.  .372. 
'  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  373. 


56  Physical  Phenomena 

to  be  three  pounds.  Home  by  placing  his  fingers  on  the 
edge  of  the  board,  which  rested  on  the  table,  occasioned 
the  pointer  of  the  balance  to  descend  and  ascend  several 
times.  He  then  placed  a  small  hand-bell  and  a  card 
match-box,  one  under  each  hand,  on  the  board,  this  in 
order  to  convince  the  investigators  that  he  was  not  pro- 
ducing the  downward  luovement  by  pressure  of  his 
hands.  The  scale  now  registered  as  much  as  nine  pounds, 
or  six  pounds  in  excess  of  the  original  weight.  Standing 
on  one  foot  on  the  edge  of  the  board,  where  Home's 
fingers  previously  had  been  held,  Crookes  who  weighed 
140  pounds  occasioned  the  scale  to  register  but  two 
pounds'  increase.  The  experiment  was  repeated  sev- 
eral times. ^ 

Later  Sir  William  altered  the  apparatus  so  that  a 
vessel  filled  with  water  was  placed  on  the  edge  of  the 
board  resting  on  the  table,  and  the  balance  was  furnished 
with  an  automatic  clock  register,  showing  alteration  in 
weight  in  curves  drawn  on  smoked  glass."  Home  placed 
his  right  hand  finger  tips  in  the  water,  his  left  hand  and 
his  feet  being  held.  The  balance  immediately  registered 
an  increase  in  weight,  the  lowest  point  reached  corre- 
sponding to  a  pull  of  about  5,000  grains.  The  water- 
bowl  was  now  withdrawn,  and  without  any  contact  be- 
tween Home  and  the  apparatus  alteration  in  weight 
was  registered.^ 

Not  satisfied  with  the  results  of  these  experiments 
Sir  William  constructed  a  more  delicate  apparatus  con- 
sisting of  a  horizontal  board  with  a  light  lever,  the 
sliOiter  end  of  which  rested  with  a  vertical  point  on 
parchment  tightly  stretched  across  a  circular  hoop  of 
wood,  the  longer  ending  in  a  needle  which  touched  a 
smoked  glass  plate  movable  by  means  of  a  clock  woi-k. 


^Researches  in  Spiritualism,  pp.   11,   14-15. 
-Ibid.,  pp.  33-36. 

'  Ibid.,   pp.   37-42.     For  similar  experiments,   Thury  and  Gasparin,   see 
"Des  Tables  Tournantes,"  and  by  Dr.  Hare,  "Experimental  Investigations." 


Physical  Phenomena  57 

It  was  sufficient  for  Home  to  hold  his  hands  on  the 
side  of  the  board  (not  on  the  lever)  or  above,  but  not 
touching  the  lever,  in  order  to  produce  percussive 
sounds  on  the  parchment  and  cause  the  lever  to  move  up 
and  down,  which  movements  were  registered  in  curves 
on  the  glass  plate.^ 

Although  under  less  exact  control,  Eusapia  Palladino 
produced  similar  effects ;  she  would  place  her  hands  out- 
stretched one  on  each  side  of  a  letter  weigher  which  then 
would  register  as  if  weights  had  been  placed  on  it.  M. 
Levy  records  how  a  considerable  registration  was  ob- 
tained when  her  hands  were  held  four  inches  from  the 
instrument,  and  after  it  had  been  ascertained  that  she 
did  not  hold  a  hair  or  similar  object  between  her  hands 
( occasionally  she  would  resort  to  this  trick,  pressing  the 
top  of  the  scales  with  the  hair).-  The  experiment  had 
been  successfully  performed  in  I'Agnelas  in  189.5  before 
a  distinguished  assembly  of  scientists,^  and  at  other 
sessions  in  Paris.^ 

During  the  sittings  in  Milan  in  1892  a  table  was 
suspended  by  one  of  its  ends  to  a  dynamometer  coupled 
to  a  cord  which  in  its  turn  was  securely  supported  from 
above.  The  end  of  the  table  being  lifted  six  and  a  half 
inches  the  dynamometer  registered  seventy-seven 
pomids.  Eusapia  seating  herself  at  the  suspended  end 
of  the  table  placed  her  hands  wholly  thereon,  one  on 
each  side  of  the  dynamometer,  which  now  began  to 
show  a  gradual  diminution  in  weight  till  it  finally 
registered  zero.  When  placing  her  hands  under  the 
table  she  increased  the  weight  of  its  suspended  end  from 
seven  and  a  half  to  thirteen  pounds.^ 


'  "Researches  in  tSpirituaUsm,"  pp.  38  et  seq. 

-Report  on  seance  Nov.   16,  1898,  in  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic 
Forces,"  p.  88. 

^Flammarion,  Ibid.,  p.  173. 

*Ibi(i.,  p.  198. 

=  Ibid.,  p.  153.     See  also  pp.  413-414. 


58  Physical  Phenomena 

4.  Levitation  of  human  body.  Still  more  remark- 
able, perhaps,  than  change  in  weight  of  inanimate  ob- 
jects are  the  phenomena  of  levitation  as  observed  with 
certain  mediums,  notably  D.  D.  Home,  W.  Stainton- 
Moses,  and  Eusapia  Palladino.  Sir  William  Crookes 
attests^  that  "on  one  occasion  (he)  witnessed  a  chair, 
with  a  lady  sitting  on  it,  rise  several  inches  from  the 
ground.  On  another  occasion,  to  avoid  the  suspicion  of 
this  being  in  some  way  performed  by  herself,  the  lady 
knelt  on  the  chair  in  such  manner  that  its  four  feet  were 
visible  to  (those  present).  It  then  rose  about  three 
inches,  remained  suspended  for  about  ten  seconds,  and 
then  slowly  descended." 

Eusapia  Palladino  was  levitated  in  the  same  manner 
at  the  Milan  sittings  in  1892."  Messrs.  Richet  and 
Lombroso  were  holding  her  two  hands  and  the  medium 
complained  of  suffering  pressure  under  the  arm. 
Presently,  in  a  state  of  trance,  she  said — or  rather 
"John  King"  through  her — :  "Now  I  will  bring  up  my 
medimii  upon  the  table."  A  few  seconds  later  the  chair 
with  the  medium  in  it  rose  slowly  and  placed  itself  on 
the  table,  from  where  it  again  carefully  descended  to  the 
floor  after  an  announcement  to  that  effect  had  taken 
place.    A  few  days  later  the  performance  was  repeated. 

Three  times  Sir  William  saw  D.  D.  Home  levitated, 
once  sitting  in  an  easy  chair,  once  kneeling  on  his  chair 
and  once  standing  on  the  floor.  On  separate  occasions 
he  witnessed  two  children  with  their  chairs  rise  from  the 
floor,  in  broad  daylight  and  under  best  circumstances 
for  observation.^ 

The  Master  of  Lindsay  describes  the  following  ex- 
perience with  Mr.  Home,  on  which  he  previously  had 
reported  to  the  Committee  of  the  Dialectical  Society:^ 
"I  was  sitting  with  Mr.  Home  and  Lord  Adare  and  a 

^  "Researches  in  Spiritualism,^''  p.  89. 

^  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  p.   159-60. 

'  "Researches  in  Spiritualism,"  p.   89. 

*  Dialectical  Report,  p.  214. 


Physical  Phenomena  59 

cousin  of  his.  During  the  sitting,  Mr.  Home  went  into 
a  trance,  and  in  that  state  was  carried  out  of  the  window 
in  the  room  next  to  where  we  were,  and  was  brought  in 
at  our  window.  The  distance  between  the  windows  was 
about  seven  feet  six  inches,  and  there  was  not  the  sHght- 
est  foothold  between  them,  nor  was  there  more  than  a 
twelve-inch  projection  to  each  window,  which  served  as 
a  ledge  to  put  flowers  on.  We  heard  the  window  in  the 
next  room  lifted  up,  and  almost  immediately  after  we 
saw  Home  floating  in  the  air  outside  our  window.  The 
moon  was  shining  full  into  the  room;  my  back  was  to 
the  light,  and  I  saw  the  shadow  on  the  wall  of  the 
window  sill,  and  Home's  feet  about  six  inches  above  it. 
He  remained  in  this  position  for  a  few  seconds,  then 
raised  the  window  and  glided  into  the  room  feet  fore- 
most and  sat  down." 

"Lord  Adare  then  went  into  the  next  room  to  look 
at  the  window  from  which  he  had  been  carried.  It  was 
raised  about  eighteen  inches,  and  he  expressed  his 
wonder  how  Mr.  Home  had  been  taken  through  so  nar- 
row an  aperture.  Home  said,  still  entranced,  'I  will 
show  you,'  and  then  with  his  back  to  the  window  he 
leaned  back  and  was  shot  out  of  the  aperture,  head  first, 
with  the  body  rigid,  and  then  returned  quite  quietly. 
The  window  is  about  seventy  feet  from  the  gromid."  ^ 

On  several  occasions  W.  Stainton-Moses  was  levi- 
tated. Once  he  was  lifted  in  his  chair  about  twelve  or 
fourteen  inches  from  the  floor,  then  floated  from  the 
chair,  ascended  higher  and  was  moved  to  one  of  the 
ceiling  corners  of  the  room,  after  which  he  quietly  de- 
scended. While  this  occurred  he  was  not  in  the  state  of 
trance.  As  he  approached  the  wall  he  placed  a  pencil 
between  his  chest  and  the  wall,  making  a  mark  thereon 
for  later  verification  of  the  phenomenon.  The  sitters 
declared  themselves  to  have  heard  Moses'  voice  issuing 
from  the  corner  of  the  ceiling.^ 

^  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  52-53. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:261.     Further  instances  Ibid.,  vi:119,  126. 


60  Physical  Phenomena 

5.  Touches.  Touches  as  of  hands  are  often  felt  at 
dark  seances,  less  frequently  when  light  is  admitted. 
The  phenomena  show  considerable  variations  ranging 
from  gentle  touches  as  with  a  closed  hand  or  contact 
with  the  pahii  or  fingers,  to  heavy  blows  which  leave  un- 
mistakable marks  on  the  victims.  There  may  be  a  few 
scattered  touches  during  a  seance,  again  the  frequency 
of  their  administration  is  sometimes  greatly  increased. 
Then,  at  times,  there  are  violent  pushes  or  strong  pres- 
sure felt  on  different  parts  of  the  body. 

The  touches  may  also  take  the  form  of  pinchings  of 
ears,  cheek,  etc.,  or  some  one  present  will  have  his  hair 
or  beard  pulled. 

Professor  Flammarion  on  one  occasion  "was  struck 
several  times  in  the  side,  touched  on  the  head,  and  (his) 
ear  was  smartly  pinched."  He  goes  on  to  say:^  "I  de- 
clare that  after  several  repetitions  I  had  enough  of  this 
ear  pinching;  but  during  the  whole  seance,  in  spite  of 
my  protestations,  somebody  kept  hitting  me."  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  -  felt  blows  as  if  some  one  was  striking  the 
head,  arms,  or  the  back,  while  the  head,  the  hands,  and 
the  feet  of  the  medium  were  plainly  in  view  or  held  apart 
from  the  portions  of  the  body  that  were  touched."  And 
M.  Victorien  Sardou  tells  us"  that  on  one  occasion  he 
received  a  "blow  with  the  flat  of  the  hand,  applied  in  the 
small  of  the  back,  without  hurting  (him)  at  all,  (which) 
was  strong  enough  to  make  (him)  lean  forward,  in  spite 
of  (himself),  toward  the  table." 

More  pleasant,  perhaps,  are  the  gentle  caresses  with 
which  sitters  at  seances  are  sometimes  favored.  M. 
Pallotti  several  times  experienced  gentle  strokes  on  his 
face,  head,  neck,  and  breast  "by  a  hand  which  came  out 

^  His  Experiments  with  Eusapia  Palladino  in  "Mysterious  Psychic 
Forces,"  p.  7.3. 

''Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  167. 

'Report  on  seances  in  Paris,  Nov.  19,  1898,  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit..  p. 
97. 


Physical  Phenomena  61 

from  behind  the  curtain."  ^  But  the  spirits  do  not  stop 
at  such  trifles.  When  the  right  ones  appear  there  will 
be  enacted  regular  love  scenes  with  embraces  and  kisses 
according  to  ancient  terrestrial  tradition. 

It  happened  at  one  of  the  Palladino  sittings  in  Paris 
in  1898  ^  that  a  certain  M.  Boutigny — who  was  affianced 
to  the  daughter  of  M.  Pallotti — while  standing  before  the 
curtain  which  gaped  open  by  his  side,  aloud  announced 
that  he  was  being  caressed  very  affectionately.  The 
medium,  in  an  extraordinary  state  of  agitation,  kept  on 
saying:  "Amove  mio,  Amore  jmoT  Then  she  called  to 
Pallotti,  "Adesso  vieni  tu,"  and  hastening  to  take  B.'s 
place  he  was  kissed  several  times.  For  a  moment  he 
could  touch  the  head  of  the  affectionate  Invisible.  The 
medium  was  all  the  time  carefully  watched. 

But  it  is  not  always  necessary  to  await  the  pleasure 
of  the  amorous  spirits.  Kisses  may  be  had  for  the  ask- 
ing, although  the  quality  in  such  cases  seems  slightly  in- 
ferior.^ 

Touches  are  also  felt  as  of  a  beard,  of  human  hair, 
etc.  At  times  the  sensation  is  very  distinct  so  that  the 
person  experiencing  it  can  tell  whether  the  beard  is  soft 
or  coarse,  whether  the  hair  is  that  of  a  man  or  a  woman, 
and  so  on.  The  hands  which  perform  touches  are  some- 
times the  large,  robust — and  even  hairy — hands  of  a 
man,  at  other  times  the  smaller,  softer  hands  of  a  woman 
or  those  of  a  child.  It  has  frequently  been  ascertained 
that  the  hands  were  quite  different  from  those  of  the 
medium — or  that  the  beard  or  hair  was  different  from 
her  hair — and  on  many  occasions  the  touches  have  been 
felt  when  the  medium's  hands  were  reported  securely 

'Report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  14,  1898,  in  Flammarion,  "Mysterious 
Psychic  Forces,"  p.   116. 

-  M.  Pallotti's  report  on  seance  Nov.    14,  Ibid.,  p.    11.5. 

'Flammarion  reports  from  experiments  with  Palladino  in  Milan  1892: 
"One  of  us  having  expressed  the  wish  to  be  kissed,  felt  before  his  very 
mouth  the  peculiar  quick  sounds  of  a  kiss,  but  not  accompanied  by  any 
contact  of  lips." — Op.  cit.,  p.   161. 


62  Physical  Phenomena 

held — as  always  was  the  case  with  Eiisapia  Palladino, 
from  the  accounts  of  whose  seances  these  incidents  are 
gathered — and  also  exposed  to  full  view.^  The  same 
phenomena  occurred  during  sittings  with  Auguste 
Politi  when  that  medium  was  securely  inclosed  in  a 
sack,' 

The  hand  has  been  felt  coming  out  from  the  curtain 
behind  the  medium,  or  the  blows  or  pinches  have  been 
administered  through  the  curtain.^  Again,  hands  will 
emerge  from  the  curtain  and  then  advance  "so  far  as  to 
touch  first  one,  then  the  other  of  the  company,  caressing 
them,  pressing  their  hands,  daintily  pulling  their  ears 
or  clapping  hands  merrily  in  the  air  above  their  heads."  ^ 

M.  Victorien  Sardou  records  the  following  curious 
instant  r'  "You  (Flammarion)  disengaged  your  left 
hand  from  the  chain,  and,  turning  toward  me,  twice 
made  in  the  air  the  gesture  of  a  director  of  an  orchestra 
waving  his  baton  to  and  fro.  And  each  time,  with  per- 
fect precision,  I  felt  upon  my  side  the  repercussion  of  a 
blow  exactly  tallying  your  gesture,  which  reached  me 
and  which  seemed  to  me  to  correspond  exactly  to  the 
time  necessary  for  the  transference  of  a  billiard  ball  or 
a  tennis  ball  from  you  to  me." 

Twice  Professor  Schiaparelli  had  his  spectacles,  which 
were  fastened  with  springs  round  his  ears,  removed 
from  his  nose  with  greatest  precision,  and  placed  on  the 
table  before  another  sitter.  This  was  accomplished  in 
full  darkness.^ 

6.  Sounds  of  various  kinds  are  among  the  more 
usual  occurrences  of  the  seance-room.    Mysterious  raps 

'  See  V.  g.  M.  Brisson's  report  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  111. 
'Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  .371. 

'  M.  Mathieu's  report  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  pp.   116,   113. 
*  Prof .  Porro'H  report  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  181. 
^His  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  19,  1898,  in  Flammarion,  Op.  cit., 
p.  97. 

'Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  160. 


Physical  Phenomena  63 

constituted  the  initial  phenomena  of  the  spiritistic 
movement,  and  have  ever  since  been  popularly  known 
as  perhaps  the  most  common  means  of  communication 
on  the  part  of  the  spirits.  So  far  as  messages  pro- 
duced by  rappings  are  concerned  we  shall  return  to 
them  in  another  connection. 

At  W.  Stainton-Moses'  seances  there  occurred  a 
"great  variety  of  raps,  often  given  simultaneously,  and 
ranging  in  force  from  the  tapping  of  a  finger  nail  to 
the  tread  of  a  foot  sufficiently  heavy  to  shake  the  room. 

Each  spirit  always  had  its  own  distinctive  rap 

and  those  sounds  often  took  place  in  sufficient  light  for 
the  sitters  to  see  each  other's  features  and  ....  hands. 
.  .  .  These  raps  could  not  possibly  have  been  produced 
by  any  human  agency.  .  .  ."  ^  Sir  William  Crookes 
thinks  that  the  name  of  "raps"  gives  an  erroneous  im- 
pression of  the  phenomena.  He  says:"  "At  different 
times,  during  my  experiments,  I  have  heard  delicate 
ticks,  as  with  the  point  of  a  pin;  a  cascade  of  sharp 
sounds  as  from  an  induction  coil  in  full  work;  detona- 
tions in  the  air ;  sharp  metallic  taps ;  a  cracking  like  that 
heard  when  a  frictional  machine  is  at  work;  sounds  like 
scratching;  the  twittering  as  of  a  bird,  etc." 

The  variety  in  these  phenomena  to  which  Sir  William 
makes  reference  will  be  found  with  most  mediums — at 
least  of  the  class  which  is  not  obviously  fraudulent.  The 
many  reports  on  Eusapia  Palladino's  seances  gathered 
by  Professor  Flammarion^  show  a  variation  ranging 
from  ordinary  taps  as  if  produced  with  a  finger  to 
powerful  thuds  and  blows.  They  do  not  always  pro- 
ceed from  the  table,  but  sometimes  from  the  floor  or 
from  objects  in  the  room.^     Miss  Fox  seems  to  have 

^Extract  from  Charlton  J.  Spear's  letter  to  Mr.  Myers,  Nov.  5,  1893. 
in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  ix:.345. 

-  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.  86. 

^  See  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces." 

*  Il)id.,  p.  88,  and  M.  J.  Maxwell,  "Les  Phenomrnes  Psychiques,"  quoted 
by  Flammarion  in  Op.  cit.,  p.  360. 


64  Physical  Phenomena 

been  able  at  pleasure  to  produce  them  on  any  object. 
Again  we  quote  Sir  AVilliam:^ 

"With  mediums,  generally,  it  is  necessary  to  sit  for 
a  formal  seance  before  anything  is  heard ;  but  in  the  case 
of  INIiss  Fox  it  seems  only  necessary  for  her  to  place  her 
hand  on  any  substance  for  loud  thuds  to  be  heard  in  it, 
like  a  triple  pulsation,  sometimes  loud  enough  to  be 
heard  several  rooms  off.  In  like  manner  I  have  heard 
them  in  a  living  tree — on  a  sheet  of  glass — on  a  stretched 
iron  wire — on  a  stretched  membrane — a  tambourine — 
on  the  roof  of  a  cab — and  on  the  floor  of  a  theater. 
Moreover,  actual  contact  is  not  always  necessary;  I 
have  heard  these  sounds  proceeding  from  the  floor,  walls, 
etc.,  when  the  medium's  hands  and  feet  were  held — 
w^hen  she  was  standing  on  a  chair — when  she  was  en- 
closed in  a  wire  cage — and  when  she  had  fallen  fainting 
on  a  sofa.  I  have  heard  them  on  a  glass  harmonicon — 
I  have  felt  them  on  my  own  shoulder  and  under  my  own 
hands." 

Eusapia  Palladino  obtained  raps  at  a  distance  of  ten 
feet,'  and  similar  incidents  are  referred  to  by  Dr.  ]Max- 
well  as  having  occurred  with  different  mediums.^  It 
should  be  noted  that  they  are  not  always  heard  on  an 
object  but  rather  as  if  proceeding  from  within  the  same. 
This  was  adverted  to  by  those  who  observed  Palladino,^ 
by  Sir  William  Crookes,^  and  by  Dr.  Maxwell,  who 
writes,*'  "I  have  heard  them  on  sheets  of  paper  laid  on 
the  experiment  table,  in  books,  in  walls,  in  tambourines, 
in  small  wooden  objects,  especially  in  a  planchette  used 
for  automatic  writing."  He  also  noticed  them  in  the 
wood  of  a  pencil  which  was  being  used  for  automatic 


^  "Researches  in  Spiritualism,"  pp.  8(i-87. 
'  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  88. 
^Ibid.,  p.  361. 

*  See  V.  g.  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  88. 
^  "Researches  in  Spiritualism,"  p.  88. 

"  "Les   PMnomenes   Psychiques,"   quoted    bv    Flammarion,    Op.    cit.,    p. 
361. 


Physical  Phenomena  65 

writing,  carefully  ascertaining  that  the  pencil  did  not 
tap  the  table. 

Raps  will  sometimes  occur  following  the  gestures  of 
the  medium  or  of  some  one  present.  Eusapia  Palladino 
on  one  occasion  asked  one  of  the  sitters  to  lift  his  hand 
about  eight  inches  above  the  table,  and  then  made  three 
taps  thereon  with  her  finger.  The  three  taps  were  simul- 
taneously heard  i7i  the  table. ^  At  the  same  seance  she 
freed  her  right  hand  and  beating  four  or  five  times  in 
the  air  produced  corresponding  sounds  on  the  tambourine 
in  the  cabinet.  On  another  occasion  while  her  hands 
were  held  her  fingers  executed  the  movements  as  if  play- 
ing a  tambourine,  to  which  the  tambourine  in  the  cabinet 
accurately  responded.^ 

Musical  sounds  occur  less  frequently  than  raps.  We 
do  not  refer  to  musical  sounds  produced  upon  a  musical 
instrument,  for  such  are  rather  to  be  referred  to  as  raps 
or  as  movement  without  contact.  We  shall  have  to  con- 
fine ourselves  to  an  account  of  some  of  the  musical 
sounds  heard  during  Mr.  Moses'  performances^  in  a 
room  where  there  was  no  musical  instrument.  They 
were  many  and  of  great  variety.  Four  types  could  be 
distinguished.  First  there  was  the  sound  of  the  "fairy 
bells,"  "resembling  the  tones  produced  by  striking 
musical  glasses  with  a  small  hammer,"  and  apparently 
issuing  from  within  the  table.  Moses  testifies  that  he 
"saw  (the  spirit)  Grocyn  making  the  sounds;  he  stood 
pointing  at  the  table,  and  as  he  pointed  the  sound  was 
made.  Behind  him  stood  (Benjamin)  Franklin.  As 
the  power  failed,  Franklin  seemed  to  put  more  into  him 
by  passes.  He  gradually  faded,  and  the  sound  ceased."^ 

'  M.  Antoniadi's  report  on  seance  in  Paris  Nov.  21,  1898,  in  Flammarion, 
Op.  cit.,  p.  105. 

-Dr.  Le  Bon's  report  on  seances  Nov.  28,  1898,  in  Ibid.,  p.  101. 

^C.  T.  Spear's  letter  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xi: 346-347. 

*  Experiences  of  Mr.  Moses,  seances  Nov.  21,  1874,  in  Proceedings, 
8.  P.  R.,  xi:59. 


66  Physical  Phenomena 

Next  there  was  the  sound  of  a  stringed  instrument 
akin  to  a  violoncello.  It  was  heard  only  in  single  notes, 
and  used  entirely  by  one  spirit.  The  third  sound  was 
that  of  a  hand-bell,  which  would  be  rung  sharply  to  indi- 
cate the  presence  of  a  certain  spirit.  It  issued  from  the 
walls,  the  ceiling,  etc.  Finally,  a  sound,  difficult  to 
describe,  but  resembling  "the  soft  tune  of  a  clarionet 
gradually  increasing  in  intensity,  until  it  rivalled  the 
sound  of  a  trumpet,  then  by  degrees  diminishing  to  the 
original  subdued  note  of  the  clarionet,  until  it  eventually 
died  away  in  a  long-drawn-out  melancholy  wail."  It 
was  always  associated  with  a  certain  spirit.^ 

Other  noises  are  frequently  noticed  at  seances.  Mr. 
Moses  records:  "a  noise  rather  like  sawing  wood,"  and 
another  time,"  "little  dropping  sounds  on  the  table 
which  turned  out  to  be  minute  beads. 


'His  notes  of  Sept.  19,  1872,  in  Proceedings,  .S'.  P.  R.,  ix:285. 
"Experiences  of  Mr.  Moses  in  Ibid.  xi:59. 


CHAPTER  III. 

Physical  Phenomena. 
(Continued.) 

In  the  preceding  chapter  we  have  dealt  with  that 
part  of  the  physical  phenomena  which  apparently  could 
not  postulate  an  in  itself  very  complex  physical  opera- 
tion and  it  remains  for  us  to  make  mention  of  those  sug- 
gesting a  more  profound  alteration  in  physical  nature 
or  implying  the  conveyance  of  intelligence  by  physical 
means. 

7.  Elongation  of  human  body.  This  phenomenon 
has  been  shown  by  a  few  mediums,  principally  D.  D. 
Home,  Heme,  J.  J.  Morse  and  Peters.  Lord  Lindsay 
gives  the  following  account  of  an  elongation  of  Home 
which  he  had  witnessed:^ 

"On  another  occasion  I  saw  Mr.  Home,  in  a  trance, 
elongated  eleven  inches.  I  measured  him  standing  up 
against  the  wall,  and  marked  the  place;  not  being  satis- 
fied with  that,  I  put  him  in  the  middle  of  the  room  and 
placed  a  candle  in  front  of  him,  so  as  to  throw  a  shadow 
on  the  wall,  which  I  also  marked.  When  he  awoke  I 
measured  him  again  in  his  natural  size,  both  directly  and 
by  the  shadow,  and  the  results  were  equal.  I  can  swear 
that  he  was  not  off  the  ground  or  standing  on  tiptoe,  as 
I  had  full  view  of  his  feet,  and,  moreover,  a  gentleman 
present  had  one  of  his  feet  placed  over  Home's  insteps, 
one  hand  on  his  shoulder,  and  the  other  on  his  side  where 
the  false  ribs  come  near  the  hip-bone." 

In  1900  the  medium  Peters  was  elongated  in 
Rev.  C.  J.  M.  Shaw's  house,  Shaw  and  his  brother  sit- 

^  Dialectical  Report,  p.  207.  See  also  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism," 
vol.  II,  p.  259. 


68  Physical  Phenomena 

ting  on  each  side  of  the  medium,  holding  each  one  foot 
on  the  feet  of  Peters.  Peters  began  to  sway  to  and  fro, 
then  raised  his  arms  and  began  to  grow  taller.  Sud- 
denly his  one  arm  was  found  to  be  six  inches  longer  than 
the  other,  then  the  shorter  arm  was  elongated  to  match 
the  longer  one.  In  the  meantime  Peters  continued  to 
grow.    Finally  he  collapsed  and  fell  to  the  floor.^ 


8.  Touching  of  burning  substances.  Among  Mr. 
Home's  phenomena  one  of  the  most  interesting  is  the 
so-called  fire-ordeal,  consisting  in  Home's  or  one  of  the 
sitters'  taking  in  his  hand  a  red-hot  coal  without  suffer- 
ing injury  or  pain.  On  one  occasion,  in  the  presence  of 
Sir  William,  Home  put  his  hand  into  the  fireplace  and 
"very  deliberately  pulled  the  lumps  of  hot  coal  off,  one 
at  a  time,  with  his  right  hand,  and  touched  one  which 
was  bright  red."  Then  placing  his  handkerchief  like  a 
cushion  in  his  hand  he  put  his  other  hand  into  the  fire 
and  "took  out  a  large  lump  of  cinder  red  hot  at  the  lower 
part,  and  placed  the  red  part  on  the  handkerchief," 
where  it  remained  for  about  half  a  minute  without  burn- 
ing the  linen.'  On  another  occasion,  also  in  Sir 
William's  presence,  "after  stirring  the  hot  coal  about 
with  his  hand"  he  "took  out  (from  the  fireplace)  a  red- 
hot  piece  nearly  as  big  as  an  orange"  which  he  enclosed 
between  his  two  hands  "and  then  blew  into  the  small 
furnace  thus  extemporized  until  the  lump  of  charcoal 
was  nearly  white-hot,  and  then  drew  Sir  William's  at- 
tention to  the  lambent  flame  which  was  flickering  over 
the  coal  and  licking  round  his  fingers."  ^  Lord  Lindsay 
during  seances  with  Home  eight  times  held  a  red-hot 
coal  in  his  hand  without  injury,  when  it  scorched  his 
face  on  raising  his  hand.^ 

^  See  Podmore,  Op.  cit.,  p.  260. 

""  Proceedings,  H.  P.  R.,  vi:103,  104. 

^Ibid.,  103. 

*  Dialectical  Report,  pp.  208-209. 


Physical  Phenomena  69 

9.  Production  of  objects  and  substances.  This 
phenomenon  consists  in  what  appears  to  be  production 
of  substances  in  the  seance-room,  such  as  fluids,  scents, 
lights,  various  objects  and  so  forth. 

Scents  of  various  descriptions  were  frequently 
brought  to  Mr.  Moses'  circle.  There  was  musk, 
verbena,  new-mown  hay  and  "spirit-scent,"  an  odour  un- 
familiar to  those  present.  At  times  liquid  musk,  etc., 
would  be  poured  on  the  hands  or  handkerchiefs  of  the 
sitters,  or  heavy  breezes  of  perfume  would  invade  the 
room.  At  the  end  of  a  seance  scent  was  often  found 
oozing  out  from  the  medium's  head,  and  the  more  it  was 
wiped  off  the  more  plentiful  it  became.^  Mr.  Moses  ex- 
plains -  that  "the  scent  is  either  carried,  as  it  seems, 
round  the  circle,  and  it  is  then  accompanied  by  cool  air, 
or  it  is  sprinkled  down  from  the  ceiling  of  the  room  in 

liquid    form On    certain    occasions 

the  scent  is  pungent  and  most  painful  if  it  gets  into  the 
eye.    At  other  times  it  is  harmless " 

But  not  only  in  the  seance-room  is  the  scent  produced. 
Mr.  Moses  states'^    "that  he  has  been  walking  with  a 

friend into  air  laden  with  scent,  and  through 

it  again  into  the  natural  atmosphere,"  and  that  he  has 
known  cases  of  scent  having  been  produced  and  show- 
ered down  in  the  open  air. 

A  phenomenon  of  equal  interest  present  itself  in  the 
production  of  lights  and  luminous  substances  in  the 
seance-room.  At  Moses'  seances  two  kinds  of  lights 
were  observed — the  objective,  which  were  seen  by  all, 
and  the  subjective,  which  were  seen  only  by  persons  of 
mediumistic  temperament.  The  former  usually  were 
like    small    illuminated    globes,    shining    brightly    and 

^  Charlton  Spear's  letter  to  Myers  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix :  346.  See 
also  Ibid.,  xi:32. 

-Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:271. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:270.  Showers  of  a  fluid  supposed  to  be  water 
appeared  during  Prof.  Zollner's  experiments  with  Slade  in  Leipzig  1877-78, 
and  also  fire  and  smoke;   Podmore,  "8tudies,  etc.,"  p.  71. 


70  Physical  Phenomena 

steadily  and  often  rapidly  moving  about  the  room  but 
never  illuminating  other  objects.  Again  we  quote 
Charlton  Spear:  ^  "A  curious  fact  in  connection  with 
these  lights  always  struck  me,  viz.,  that  looking  on  the 
top  of  the  table  one  could  see  a  light  slowly  ascending 
from  the  floor,  and  to  all  appearances  passing  out 
through  the  top  of  the  table,  the  table  itself  apparently 
not  affording  any  obstacle  to  one's  view  of  the  light. 
The  subjective  lights  were  described  as  be- 
ing large  masses  of  luminous  vapour,  floating  round  the 
room  and  assuming  a  variety  of  shapes." 

At  one  of  Moses'  seances  "a  pillar  of  light,  very 
bright  and  diffused,  descended  the  centre  of  the  table 
and  passed  round  the  circle,  vanishing  near  the  ceiling. 
It  was  like  a  flash  of  light  at  first."  ^ 

At  another  seance  Moses  sat  in  the  cabinet — being  the 
bathroom  closed  off  with  a  curtain — Dr.  and  Mrs.  Spear 
and  Mr.  H.  sitting  on  a  sofa  outside.  The  following 
then  happened : '^  "Lights  soon  came,  whilst  I  (Moses) 
was  in  deep  trance.  They  are  described  to  me  as  of  a 
pale,  soft  light  which  was  surrounded  apparently  with 
drapery.  Mr.  H.  described  it  to  me  as  a  luminous 
crystal  with  a  hand  holding  it.  Mentor  (a  spirit),  on 
being  asked  whether  it  was  his  hand,  assented,  and 
showed  a  gigantic  finger  before  the  light.  There  were 
about  thirty  lights.  They  flashed  by  with  a  comet-like 
motion  at  times,  and  then  again  stood  at  the  opening, 
gradually  fading  away." 

The  luminous  appearances  observed  by  Sir  William 
Crookes  bear  a  certain  resemblance  to  those  of  Moses' 
seances.     The  distinguished  physicist  writes:^ 

"Under  the  strictest  test  conditions,  I  have  seen  a 
solid  self-luminous  body,  the  size  and  nearly  the  shape 


'Letter  to  Myers  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:345. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix:311. 

^Ibid.,  p.  314. 

*  Researches  in  Spiritualism,  p.  91. 


Physical  Phenomena  71 

of  a  turkey's  egg,  float  noiselessly  about  the  room,  at 
one  time  higher  than  any  one  present  could  reach  stand- 
ing on  tip-toe,  and  then  gently  descend  to  the  floor.  It 
was  visible  for  more  than  ten  minutes,  and  before  it 
faded  away  it  struck  the  table  three  times  with  a  sound 
like  that  of  a  hard,  solid  body.  During  this  time  the 
medium  was  lying  back,  apparently  insensible,  in  an 
easy  chair. 

"I  have  seen  limiinous  points  of  light  darting  about 
and  settling  on  the  heads  of  different  persons;  I  have 
had  questions  answered  by  the  flashing  of  a  bright  light 
a  desired  number  of  times  in  front  of  my  face.  I  have 
seen  sparks  of  light  rising  from  the  table  to  the  ceiling, 
and  again  falling  upon  the  table,  striking  it  with  an 
audible  sound.  I  have  had  an  alphabetic  commmiication 
given  by  luminous  flashes  occurring  before  me  in  the 
air,  whilst  my  hand  was  moving  about  amongst  them. 
I  have  seen  a  luminous  cloud  floating  upwards  to  a 
picture.  Under  the  strictest  test  conditions,  I  have  more 
than  once  had  a  solid,  self-luminous,  crystalline  body 
placed  in  my  hand  by  a  hand  which  did  not  belong  to 
any  person  in  the  room.  In  the  light  I  have  seen  a 
luminous  cloud  hover  over  a  heliotrope  on  a  side  table, 
break  a  sprig  off,  and  carry  the  sprig  to  a  lady;  and  on 
some  occasions  I  have  seen  a  similar  luminous  cloud 
visibly  condense  to  the  form  of  a  hand  and  carry  small 
objects  about." 

Lights  were  occasionally  seen  at  the  Palladino  seances, 
but  they  were  usually  of  an  inconspicuous  appearance, 
"like  a  will-o'-the-wisp,  similar  to  electric  sparks."  ^ 
These  lights  seldom  lasted  for  more  than  a  few  seconds. 
They  were  mostly  seen  in  the  cabinet.  There  is  a  record  of 
a  luminous  zigzag  line  shaped  hke  a  very  tall  N  appear- 
ing on  the  curtain,"  again,  of  a  pear-shaped  gleam  in 

^V.  Sardou's  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  19,  1898,  in  Flammarion, 
Op.  cit.,  p.  97. 

^M.  Armelin's  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  21,  1898,  in  Ibid.,  p.  108. 


72  Physical  Phenomena 

the  ceiling'  and  of  "a  large  white  star  of  the  colour  of 
Vega,  though  larger  and  of  a  softer  light,  and  which 
rests  motionless  for  some  seconds,  then  is  extin- 
guished." "  At  Politi's  seances  there  were  lights  appear- 
ing and  disappearing  in  the  air,  some  of  which  gave  the 
outline  of  a  curve,  and  two  luminous  crosses  about  four 
inches  high,^  It  should  be  noted  that  for  the  most  part 
the  so-called  "spirit  lights"  did  not  give  any  radiation. 


10.  Materialization,  Apparitions  as  such  are  not 
proper  to  Spiritism  but  have  always  formed  an  experi- 
ence in  himian  life.  Generally  speaking  they  consist  in 
phantoms,  be  it  of  persons  still  living,  of  those  departed 
or  of  beings  recognized  as  angels,  men,  demons  or  simply 
as  spirits  of  unidentified  character. 

The  apparitions  properly  belonging  to  Spiritism  are 
of  far  narrower  compass,  being  limited  to  what  is 
claimed  to  be  phantoms  of  the  departed.  They  may  be 
visible  to  several  persons  or  to  all  those  present,  again 
they  may  be  visible  but  to  one  individual  in  the  company. 
The  individual  apparitions  give  the  impression  of  be- 
ing of  a  subjective  rather  than  of  an  objective  char- 
acter, and  would  suggest  hallucinatory  effects  in  the 
subject  rather  than  images  obtained  by  sense  per- 
ception ;  be  they  what  they  may,  their  place  is  evidently 
among  psychical  phenomena.  The  same,  undoubtedly, 
is  true  of  certain  collective  apparitions. 

However,  apparitions  seen  by  all  or  several  partici- 
pants in  a  seance  are  usually  identified  with  what  the 
Spiritists  call  "materialized"  spirit  forms,  an  expression 
which  must  be  understood  in  the  light  of  the  spiritistic 
theor}^  of  the  nature  of  the  human  soul  with  its  astral 
substance.  The  materialized  spirit  form  usually  has  a 
\eYy  human  appearance,  moves  about  the  room,  speaks 

^  V.  Sardou's  report  as  above. 
°  M.  Armelin's  report  as  above. 
'  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  371. 


Physical  Phenomena  73 

and  at  times  even  allows  itself  to  be  touched  by  the  sit- 
ters. On  more  rare  occasions  there  have  been  collective 
apparitions  of  far  less  material  looking  beings — the 
phantom  being  shadowy  and  semi-transparent. 
Whether  or  not  such  apparitions  be  objective,  investiga- 
tion may  some  day  show.  In  the  present  classification 
we  judge  only  from  appearances. 

The  materialization  phenomena  proper  consist  in  ap- 
paritions of  hands,  arms,  busts  and  whole  human  bodies, 
sometimes  transparent  or  luminous,  sometimes  most 
realistically  life-like.  To  frequenters  of  spiritistic 
seances  they  are  a  familiar  spectacle,  and  examples  could 
be  adduced  ad  libitum.  But  for  reasons  which  later  will 
be  set  forth,  we  shall  seek  our  illustrations  only  among 
phenomena  produced  during  well  controlled  seances. 
Sir  William  Crookes  relates  some  instances  of  having 
seen  hands, ^  thus,  v.  g.,  "a  beautifully-formed  small 
hand  rose  up  from  an  opening  in  the  dining-table  and 
gave  (him)  a  flower,"  appearing  and  disappearing 
three  times.  On  another  occasion,  "a  small  hand  and 
arm,  like  a  baby's,  appeared  playing  about  a  lady  who 
was  sitting  next  to  (him).  It  then  passed  to  (him)  and 
patted  (his)  arm  and  pulled  (his)  coat  several  times." 
He  goes  on  to  say:  "The  hands  and  fingers  do  not  al- 
ways appear  to  me  to  be  solid  and  life-like.  Sometimes, 
indeed,  they  present  more  the  appearance  of  a  nebulous 
cloud  partly  condensed  into  the  form  of  a  hand.  This  is 
not  equally  visible  to  all  present.  For  instance,  a  flower 
or  other  small  object  is  seen  to  move;  one  person  pres- 
ent will  see  a  luminous  cloud  hovering  over  it,  another 
will  detect  a  nebulous-looking  hand,  while  others 
will  see  nothing  at  all  but  the  moving  flower.  I  have 
more  than  once  seen,  first,  an  objective  move,  then  a 
luminous  cloud  appear  to  form  about  it,  and,  lastly, 
the  cloud  condense  into  shape  and  become  a  perfectly- 
formed  hand.  At  this  stage  the  hand  is  visible  to  all 
present.     It  is  not  always  a  mere  form,  but  sometimes 

^  Researches  in  Spiritualism,  p.  92. 


74f  Physical  Phenomena 

appears  perfectly  life-like  and  graceful,  the  fingers 
moving  and  the  flesh  apparently  as  human  as  that  of 
any  in  the  room.  At  the  wrist,  or  arm,  it  becomes  hazy, 
and  fades  off  into  a  luminous  cloud. 

"To  the  touch,  the  hand  sometimes  appears  icy  cold 
and  dead,  at  other  times,  warm  and  life-like,  grasping 
my  own  with  the  firm  pressure  of  an  old  friend." 

This  description  is  significant  in  that  it  shows  a  tran- 
sition and  connection  between  the  phenomenon  we  have 
described  under  the  name  of  apport,  and  those  of  ma- 
terialization and  production  of  luminous  substances. 

Similar  phenomena  are  abundantly  recorded  from 
Eusapia  Palladino's  many  seances.  Faces  and  hands 
were  often  seen.  Once  it  was  a  "small  hand,  like  that 
of  a  little  girl  of  fifteen  years,  the  palm  forward,  the 
fingers  joined,  the  thumb  projecting.  The  color  of  this 
hand  is  livid;  its  form  is  not  rigid,  nor  is  it  fluid;  one 
would  say  rather  that  it  is  the  hand  of  a  big  doll  stuffed 
with  bran."  "When  the  hand  moves  back  from  the 
brighter  light,  as  it  disappears — it  seems  to  lose  its 
shape,  as  if  the  fingers  were  being  broken,  beginning 
with  the  thumb."  ^ 

Another  time  two  hands  were  simultaneously  seen 
upon  the  glass  panes  of  a  window  which  was  feebly  il- 
luminated from  the  outside.  They  "exhibited  a  rapid 
tremulous  motion,  but  not  so  rapid  as  to  hinder  us  from 
seeing  the  outline  clearly.  They  were  wholly  opaque 
and  were  thrown  upon  the  window  as  absolutely  black 
silhouettes." '  Again,  a  white  hand  was  seen  between 
the  curtains,  above  the  medium's  head,  and  at  tlie  same 
time  somebody  felt  his  hair  pulled.  One  of  the  sitters 
saw  the  hand  stretched  out  a  second  time,  touching  the 
shoulder  of  a  gentleman  present.^ 

'  M.  I^evy'ss  report  on  seance  in  Paris,  Nov.  16,  1898,  in  Flammarion, 
Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,  p.  89. 

-Flammarion.  Op.  cit.,  p.  159. 

^  M.  Armelin's  report  on  seances  in  Paris,  Nov.  21,  1898,  in  Flam- 
marion, Op.  cit.,  p.   107. 


Physical  Phenomena  75 

One  night  in  Milan  pieces  of  cardboard  painted  with 
a  phosphorescent  substance^  were  placed  on  the  seance 
table  and  on  various  chairs  in  the  room.  The  outline  of 
a  hand  was  then  clearly  seen  on  the  piece  placed  on  the 
table  while  the  shadow  of  a  hand  kept  passing  and  re- 
passing over  the  chairs.^ 

We  have  already  referred  to  the  seance  at  which  M. 
Pallotti  and  his  wife  embraced  and  kissed  a  being,  in- 
visible to  the  rest  of  the  circle  and  believed  to  be  their 
defunct  daughter  on  a  spirit  visit.  A  moment  before 
the  kisses  were  heard  Professor  Flammarion  several 
times  saw  "the  head  of  a  young  girl  bowing  before 
(him)  with  high-arched  forehead  and  with  long  hair."^ 

The  silhouette  of  a  young  girl  of  slightly  less  than 
average  stature  was  indistinctly  seen  at  the  lower  end 
of  the  cabinet — the  curtains  having  opened  themselves. 
"The  head  of  this  apparition  was  not  very  distinct.  It 
seemed  surrounded  by  a  sort  of  shaded  aureole.     The 

whole  form  of  the  statue stood  out  very  little 

from  the  dim  obscurity  from  which  it  had  emerged ;  that 
is  to  say,  it  was  not  very  luminous."  M.  Le  Bocain, 
who  saw  this  apparition  and  in  it  thought  himself  to 
recognize  his  sister,  asked  it  in  arabic  to  identify  itself 
by  pulling  the  hair  on  the  back  of  his  head  three  times. 
Ten  minutes  later  this  was  done.^ 

We  can  not  refrain  from  quoting  the  following  from 
M.  Sully  Prudhomme's  description  of  a  seance  held 
with  Palladino  in  Auteuil  in  1896:''  "A  dark  bust 
moves  forward  upon  the  table,  coming  from  where 
Eusapia  sits;  then  another,  and  still  another.  'They 
look  like  Chinese  ghosts,'  says  M.  Mangin,  with  the 
difference,  that  I,  who  am  better  placed,  owing  to  the 

^  Sulphide  of  calcium. 
^Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  159. 
"  Flammarion,  Op.  cit.,  p.  128. 

*  M.    Le   Bocain's   report  on   seance   in    Paris,  Nov.    14,    1898,   in    Flam- 
marion, Op.  cit.,  p.   117. 
'^See  Ibid.,  p.  177. 


76  Physical  Phenomena 

light  from  the  window,  am  able  to  perceive  the 
dimensions  of  these  singular  images,  and  above  all  their 
thickness.  All  these  black  busts  are  busts  of  women,  of 
life  size;  but,  although  vague,  they  do  not  look  like 
Eusapia.  The  last  of  them,  of  fine  shape,  is  that  of  a 
woman  who  seems  young  and  pretty.  These  half- 
lengths,  which  seem  to  emanate  from  the  medium,  glide 
along  between  us;  and,  when  they  have  gone  as  far  as 
the  middle  of  the  table  or  two-thirds  of  its  length,  they 
sink  down  altogether   (all  of  a  piece,  as  it  were),  and 

vanish I  murmur,  'One  would  think  he  was 

looking  at  busts  moulded  in  papier-mache.'  Eusapia 
heard  me.  'No,  not  papier-mache,'  she  says  in- 
dignantly. She  does  not  give  any  other  explanation, 
but  says,  'In  order  to  prove  to  you  that  it  is  not  the 
body  of  the  medium,  I  am  going  to  show  you  a  man 
with  a  beard.  Attention!'  I  do  not  see  anything,  but 
Dr.  Dariex  feels  his  face  rubbed  against  for  quite  a 
while  by  a  beard." 

Katie  King,  the  sister  of  John  King,  the  ghost,  has 
given  us  abundant  material  for  the  study  of  materializa- 
tion through  the  pen  of  Sir  William  Crookes,  who  con- 
ducted a  series  of  experiments  with  her  medium  Miss 
Florence  Cook,  which  he  describes  in  his  "Researches  in 
Spiritualism."  At  the  first  seances^  a  back  drawing- 
room  was  used  as  cabinet,  i.  e.,  it  was  separated  by 
means  of  a  curtain  from  the  front  room,  where  the  com- 
pany was  sitting. 

At  the  beginning  of  the  seance  the  medium  retired 
into  the  cabinet.  "After  a  little  time  the  form  Katie 
appeared  at  the  side  of  the  curtain,  but  soon  retired, 
saying  her  medium  was  not  well,  and  could  not  be  put 
into  a  sufficiently  deep  sleep  to  make  it  safe  for  her  to 
be  left.  1  was  sitting  within  a  few  feet  of  the  curtain 
close  behind  which  Miss  Cook  was  sitting  and  could 
frequently  hear  her  moan  and  sob,  as  if  in  pain 

'Op.  cit.,  p.   103. 


Physical  Phenomena  77 

I  admit  that  the  figure  was  starthngly  Hfe-hke  and 
real,  and,  as  far  as  I  could  see  in  the  somewhat  dim 
light,  the  features  resembled  those  of  Miss  Cook;  but 
still  the  positive  evidence  of  one  of  my  own  senses  that 
the  moan  came  from  Miss  Cook  in  the  cabinet,  whilst 
the  figure  was  outside,  is  too  strong  to  be  upset  by  a 
mere  inference  to  the  contrary,  however  well  sup- 
ported." 

On  another  occasion:^  ".  .  .  ,  after  Katie  had  been 
walking  amongst  us  and  talking  for  some  time,  she  re- 
treated behind  the  curtain  which  separated  my  labora- 
tory, where  the  company  was  sitting,  from  my  library, 
which  did  temporarj^  duty  as  a  cabinet.  In  a  minute 
she  came  to  the  curtain  and  called  me  to  her,  saying, 
'Come  into  the  room  and  lift  my  medium's  head  up, 
she  has  slipped  down.'  Katie  was  then  standing  be- 
fore me  clothed  in  her  usual  white  robes  and  turban 
head-dress."  Sir  William  then  walked  into  the  cabinet 
and  found  Miss  Cook,  dressed  in  black  velvet,  in  a 
trance  having  slipped  partially  from  the  sofa.  Three 
seconds  elapsed  between  his  seeing  Katie  and  the 
medium. 

Later  Katie  was  seen  behind  Miss  Cook,  who  was 
crouching  on  the  floor.^  Sir  William  having  on  one 
occasion  embraced  the  ghost  Katie  states  that  she  "was 
as  material  a  being  as  Miss  Cook  herself."  ^  To  make 
sure  that  Katie  was  not  impersonated  by  Miss  Cook,. 
Sir  William  had  a  photograph  of  himself  and  Katie 
taken,  and  later,  on  the  same  spot  of  the  floor  and  with 
identical  arrangement  of  posture,  cameras,  light,  etc., 
another  photograph  of  himself  and  Miss  Cook  dressed 
like  Katie.  "When  these  two  pictures  are  placed  over 
each  other,"  Sir  William  writes,^  "the  two  photographs 
of  myself  coincide  exactly  as  regards  stature,  etc.,  but 

^  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.  105. 

=  Ibid.,  pp.  106-107. 

■••Ibid.,  p.  106. 

^Ibid.,  p.   110.  ; 


78  Physical  Phenomena 

Katie  is  half  a  head  taller  than  Miss  Cook,  and  looks  a 
big  woman  in  comparison  with  her."  Other  differences 
are  noted  in  the  breadth  of  her  face  and  on  several 
other  points. 

The  closing  seance  was  very  dramatic.  We  quote 
Sir  William:^  "When  the  time  came  for  Katie  to  take 
her  farewell  I  asked  that  she  would  let  me  see  the  last 
of  her.  Accordingly  when  she  had  called  each  of  the 
company  up  to  her  and  had  spoken  to  them  a  few  words 
in  private,  she  gave  some  general  directions  for  the 
future  guidance  and  protection  of  Miss  Cook"  .... 
(she  then)  "invited  me  into  the  cabinet  with  her,  and 
allowed  me  to  remain  there  to  the  end." 

"After  closing  the  curtain  she  conversed  with  me  for 
some  time,  and  then  walked  across  the  room  to  where 
Miss  Cook  was  lying  senseless  on  the  floor.  Stooping 
over  her,  Katie  touched  her,  and  said,  'Wake  up 
Florrie,  wake  up!  I  must  leave  you  now!'  Miss  Cook 
then  woke  and  tearfully  entreated  Katie  to  stay  a  little 
time  longer.  'My  dear,  I  can't;  my  work  is  done.  God 
bless  you,'  Katie  replied,  and  then  continued  speaking 
to  Miss  Cook.  For  several  minutes  the  two  were  con- 
versing with  each  other,  till  at  last  Miss  Cook's  tears 
prevented  her  speaking.  Following  Katie's  instruc- 
tions I  then  came  forward  to  support  Miss  Cook,  who 
was  falling  on  to  the  floor,  sobbing  hysterically.  I 
looked  round,  but  the  white-robed  Katie  had  gone." 

Sir  William  had  observed  Katie  carefully,  in  strong 
electric  light,  and  found  certain  differences  between  her 
and  the  medium,  such  as  marks  on  Miss  Cook's  face  ab- 
sent on  Katie's,  different  colour  of  hair — Katie's  was  of 
a  rich,  golden  auburn,  and  Sir  William  cut  a  lock  of  it 
which  he  kept — and  so  on.  He  says: "  "I  have  the  most 
absolute  certainty  that  Miss  Cook  and  Katie  are  two 
separate  individuals  so  far  as  their  bodies  are  con- 
cerned." 


'  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.   111. 
2  Ibid.,  p.  110. 


Physical  Phenomena  79 

A  somewhat  parallel  case  to  Katie  King's  is  found 
in  that  of  Bien  Boa — the  materialized  spirit  of  an 
Oriental  warrior  in  white  draperies  and  with  a  helmet 
on  his  head,  who  appeared  during  a  succession  of  seances 
held  in  1905  in  a  small  pavilion  belonging  to  the  "Villa 
Carmen"  in  Algiers.^  M.  Richet  tells  us  that  this 
martial  phantom,  which  would  develop  from  a  white 
ball  before  the  cabinet  curtain,  and  disappear  in  the 
same  manner,  was  in  possession  of  all  attributes  of  life, 
that  he  had  seen  it  walk,  and  go  and  come  in  the  room, 
that  he  had  heard  the  sound  of  its  footsteps,  its  breath- 
ing and  its  voice.     It  was  successfully  photographed. 

The  medium  was  Mile.  B.  ,  the  nineteen-year-old 

daughter  of  a  retired  army  officer. 

Phenomena  of  this  kind  have  been  very  frequent  with 
mediums  operating  from  a  cabinet.  It  should  be  noted 
that  when  the  medium  remains — or  does  she  not? — in 
the  cabinet  the  exceedingly  life-like  phantom  is  pro- 
duced, whereas  the  nebulous,  shadowy  or  transparent 
phantom  is  seen  when,  as  in  the  case  of  Palladino,  the 
mediimi  sits  in  the  seance-room  outside  the  cabinet. 
There  are  instances  of  phantoms  seen  by  one  or  a  few 
individuals,  appearing  in  a  room  without  a  cabinet. 
These,  we  think,  should  rather  be  recorded  among 
psychical  phenomena.  To  draw  a  sharp  line  of  dis- 
tinction between  phantoms  of  the  two  orders  would  be 
impossible  without  involving  preconceived  ideas  as  to 
their  production. 

11.  Impressions  in  clay,  putty  or  other  plastic  sub- 
stances of  hands,  fingers  and  faces  have  not  seldom  been 
witnessed  at  spiritistic  seances.  Such  impressions  are 
usually  claimed  to  represent  the  features  of  a  spirit, 
and  so  far  as  those  of  faces  are  concerned  they  at  times 
strongly  suggest  the  gargoyle  rather  than  the  species 
of  humanity  one  is  pleased  to  meet. 

'  The  Annals  of  Psychical  Science,  Oct.  and  Nov.,  1905. 


80  Physical  Phenomena 

The  phenomenon  is  usually  linked  to  materialization 
seances  and  not  rarely  is  the  impression  obtained  inside 
the  cabinet.  It  shows  very  little  variation,  and  we  shall 
content  ourselves  with  giving  a  few  examples  from  the 
Palladino  seances. 

In  the  course  of  Professor  Flammarion's  experi- 
ments with  this  famous  medium  a  tray  of  putty  weigh- 
ing about  nine  pounds  was  placed  on  a  chair  twenty 
inches  behind  the  cabinet  curtain  in  front  of  which 
Eusapia  was  sitting.  The  chair  then  moved  forward 
above  the  head  of  the  medium  and  sitters  and  came  to 
rest  on  the  head  of  one  of  the  latter  whose  husband  re- 
ceived the  tray  with  putty  softly  deposited  upon  his 
head.  Suddenly  Eusapia,  rising,  cries  out,  ''E  fatto," 
and,  the  lights  having  been  turned  on,  those  present  were 
able  to  discover  the  profile  of  a  human  face  impressed 
in  the  putty,  a  photographic  reproduction  of  which 
shows  a  striking  likeness  with  Mme.  Palladino.  It 
should  be  added  that  the  gentleman  on  whose  head  the 
putty  had  been  deposited  had  felt  no  pressure  upon  the 
tray  to  indicate  that  an  impression  was  being  made,  and 
that  a  lady  sitter  immediately  after  the  experiment 
kissed  the  medium  upon  both  cheeks  without  perceiving 
the  odour  of  linseed  oil.^ 

We  refer  to  another  instance.  It  was  at  a  dark 
seance,  and  Eusapia's  head  was  resting  heavily  upon 
that  of  Dr.  Ochorowicz,  who  writes:  -  "At  the  moment 
of  the  production  of  the  phenomenon  a  convulsive 
trembling  shook  her  whole  body,  and  the  pressure  of 
her  head  on  my  temples  was  so  intense  that  it  hurt  me. 
At  the  moment  when  the  strongest  convulsion  took 
place,  she  cried,  'Ah,  che  dura!'   We  at  once  lighted  a 


^  Flammarion,  "Mysferious  Psychic  Forces,''  pp.  74-7ti;  reproduction  of 
the  impression  and  photograph  of  E.  P.  opposite  page  76.  For  other  prints 
received  at  seancea  with  the  same  medium  see  Op.  cit.  opposite  p.  138, 
cfr.  Flournov,  "«S'pi?-i>isw  and  Psychology,"  p.  256.  For  other  instances 
see  Op.  cit.,  f»p.  22,  16.3,  184. 

-"The   Externalization    of  Motivity,"   p.   406. 


Physical  Phenomena  81 

candle  and  found  a  print,  rather  poor  in  comparison 
with  those  which  other  experimenters  have  obtained — 
a  thing  due,  perhaps,  to  the  bad  quahty  of  the  clay 
which  I  used.  This  clay  was  placed  about  twenty 
inches  to  the  right  of  the  medium,  while  her  head  was 
inclined  to  the  left.  Her  face  was  not  at  all  soiled  by 
the  clay,  which  was  yet  so  moist  as  to  leave  traces  upon 
the  fingers  when  touched." 

The  tray  was  then  placed  on  the  dining-room  table 
near  a  big  kerosene  lamp  and  Eusapia,  in  trance,  hav- 
ing remained  for  some  moments  at  the  table,  moved 
backward  into  the  adjoining  seance-room,  the  experi- 
menters following  her.  "We  had  already  got  into  the 
ciiam!)er,"  Dr.  Ochorowicz  continues,  "when,  leaning 
against  one  of  the  halves  of  the  double  door,  she  fixed 
her  eyes  upon  the  tray  of  clay  which  had  been  left  upon 
the  table.  The  medium  was  in  a  very  good  light:  we 
were  separated  from  her  by  a  distance  of  from  six  to 
ten  feet,  and  we  perceived  distinctly  all  the  details.  All 
of  a  sudden  Eusapia  stretched  her  hand  out  abruptly 
toward  the  clay,  then  sank  down  uttering  a  groan.  We 
rushed  precipitately  towards  the  table  and  saw,  side  by 
side  with  the  imprints  of  the  head,  a  new  imprint,  very 
marked,  of  a  hand  which  had  been  thus  produced  under 
the  very  light  of  the  lamp,  and  which  resembled  the 
hand  of  Eusapia." 

Impressions  of  hands  and  fingers  have  also  been  re- 
ceived on  paper  blackened  with  the  smoke  of  a  lamp. 
The  prepared  paper  was  placed  on  the  table  opposite 
the  medium  whose  two  hands  were  held  each  by  a  mem- 
ber of  the  circle.  Not  only  were  impressions  of  fingers 
and  of  a  whole  human  hand  obtained  in  the  lamp  black, 
but  upon  request  the  soot  was  transferred  to  and  rubbed 
over  the  hand  of  one  of  the  controllers  while  the 
medium's  hands  remained  perfectly  clean.  It  was  pos- 
sible to  constate  that  the  impressions  received  had  a 


82  Physical  Phenomena 

striking  resemblance  to  Eusapia's  hands  and  fingers — 
the  fingerprints  being  exactly  hers.^ 


12.  Spirit- photography.  There  have  been  few  pro- 
fessional spirit-photographers  of  note,  although,  no 
doubt,  the  art  has  been  practiced  to  some  extent  in 
private  circles.  Mr.  Raupert  in  his  "Dangers  of 
S piritualisni"  ~  reproduces  four  spirit-photographs,  the 
first  showing  a  cloud-like  formation  near  the  human 
image,  the  other  three  a  more  or  less  clear  figure  of  a 
woman  and  a  man  draped  in  sheets.  Others  may  be 
seen  in  H.  Carrington's  "The  Physical  Phenomena  of 
Spiritualism."  ^  The  following  is  a  description  of  a 
photograph  taken  in  Mr.  Parks'  studio:^  "It  was  taken 
on  a  plate  freshly  purchased,  and  which  had  never  been 
in  Mr.  Parks'  possession.  The  plate  had  been  prepared 
and  placed  in  the  shield,  when  a  photographer  who  was 
present  requested  that  it  might  be  taken  out  and  turned 
upside  down  before  exposure.  This  was  done,  and,  on 
developing  the  plate,  a  rude  outline  of  a  figure,  com- 
posed of  two  busts,  appears;  the  busts  pointing  in  op- 
posite directions." 

Among  spirit-photographs  a  certain  number  has  been 
recognized  as  likenesses  of  deceased  persons,  but  these 
cases  are  comparatively  rare.''  In  1874  Bugiiet  took 
a  photograph  of  Mr.  Moses  while  in  trance  lying  in  hi' 
bed.  Two  exposures  were  made;  the  first — being  th^ 
first  half  of  the  plate — showed  hardly  discernible  fea- 
tures, while  the  second  gave  a  good  efiigy  of  Moses.  But 

'  statement  concerning  the  Milan  sittings  1892,  in  Flammarion,  Op. 
cit.,  p.  158. 

^pp.  67,  70,  72  and  74. 

^  See  list  of   Illustrations. 

*  Mrs.  Sidgwick  on  Spirit-photographs  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vii:270 
et  seq. :  cfr.  f/itman  Nature,  Apr.  187.5,  p.   157. 

''Mr.  Moses  in  Human  Nature,  .Tune  1876,  p.  268,  states  that  "out  of 
some  six  hundred  photographs  which  I  have  seen  and  examined,  and  of 
most  of  which  I  have  heard  the  history,  I  do  not  know  of  half  a  dozen 
in  which  the  expected  form  appeared." 


Physical  Pheiiomena  83 

a  voice,  which  used  to  communicate  with  Moses,  later  in- 
formed him  that  the  first  picture  was  a  photograph  of 
the  ghostly  owner  of  that  voice  as  he- — or  it  ? — ^looked  in 
life/ 

There  are  some  famous  cases  of  this  phenomenon  such 
as  the  photograph  taken  in  the  library  of  D-Hall  on 
the  day  of  Lord  D.'s  funeral,  which,  on  being  developed 
six  months  later,  showed  the  image  and  likeness  of 
Lord  D."  For  literature  on  the  subject  see  Mrs.  Sidg- 
wick's  article  in  the  Proceedings.^ 

13.  Direct  spirit-messages.  The  original  means  of 
communication  with  spirits  was  found  in  the  so-called 
rappings  which  throughout  the  movement  have  con- 
tinued to  constitute  the  principal  conveyor  of  messages. 
The  raps  may  be  taken  to  indicate  an  affirmative  answer 
to  simple  questions,  a  series  of  raps  to  indicate  a  num- 
ber or,  again,  the  alphabet  system  may  be  used,  in 
which  the  receiver  of  a  rap-message  lets  his  finger  glide 
from  letter  to  letter  on  a  printed  alphabet.  When  it 
passes  the  letter  which  the  "communicator"  wishes  to 
indicate  a  rap  is  heard  and  a  note  of  the  letter  is  then 
taken.  In  this  fashion  the  message  is  spelled  out  letter 
after  letter.  Doubt  or  emphasis  is  sometimes  expressed 
by  faintness  or  vehemence  in  the  raps.  A  peculiar  form 
of  rap  messages  is  found  in  so-called  "spirit-teleg- 
raphy." 

Spirit-writing,  however,  furnishes  a  more  satisfactory 
means  of  communication  than  the  rap-method.  There 
are  different  kinds  of  spirit-writing,  the  various 
phenomena  falling  into  two  groups,  direct  and  indirect. 
The  direct  writing,  to  all  appearances,  is  performed 
without  an  intermediary,  the  spirits  themselves  produc- 
ing the  script,  whereas  the  indirect  writing  is  performed 

"^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vii: 287-288. 

^  Podmore,  ''Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.   124. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vii: 269  et  seq. 


84  Physical  Phenomena 

through  an  interniediary,  i.  e.,  the  medium,  acting  as 
amanuensis.  We  shall  treat  in  this  chapter  of  direct 
writing  alone,  the  indirect  properly  belonging  to  the 
psychic  phenomena. 

Direct  spirit-writing  takes  several  forms.  The 
spirits  write  their  messages  either  on  a  slip  of  paper 
placed  in  the  seance-room,  or  on  slates,  or,  again,  by 
employing  the  planchette. 

The  first  kind  of  writing  is  very  common,  and  was  a 
frequent  occurrence  at  W.  Stainton-Moses'  seances. 
In  his  letter  to  Myers,  Mr.  Charlton  T.  Spear  writes:^ 
"Direct  writing  was  often  given,  sometimes  on  a  sheet 
of  paper  placed  in  the  center  of  the  table  and 
equidistant  from  all  the  sitters;  at  other  times  one  of 
us  would  place  our  hands  on  a  piece  of  paper  previously 
dated  and  initialed,  and  usually  a  message  was  found 
written  upon  it  at  the  conclusion  of  the  seance.  We  al- 
ways placed  a  pencil  upon  the  paper,  but  sometimes  we 
only  provided  a  small  piece  of  lead,  the  result  being  the 
same  in  both  cases.  Usually  the  writing  took  the  form 
of  answering  questions  which  we  had  asked.     .     .     ." 

At  a  seance  in  1872"  held  by  Moses  in  the  presence 
of  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Spear  a  piece  of  ruled  paper  with  a 
corner  torn  off  for  identification  and  a  pencil  were  put 
on  the  floor  under  the  table.  Various  raps  and  a  noise 
"rather  like  sawing  wood"  were  heard  and  objects 
brought  into  the  room,  and  at  the  end  of  the  seance,  the 
lights  having  been  turned  on,  the  paper  when  picked  up 
was  found  to  contain  a  message  exactly  following  the 
ruling. 

At  another  seance  Moses  relates:"^  "I  had  seen  a 
veiled  figure  standing  by  Dr.  Spear.  Mrs.  Spear  could 
see  the  light,  but  could  not  distinguish  the  figure.     It 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  ix:347. 

^'Sept.  19th.  See  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  ix:28o,  with  fac-simile  of  the 
message. 

''Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xi:32-.33. 


Physical  Phenomena  85 

did  not  seem  to  move,  and  was  apparently  outside  the 

circle,    near    the    window    curtains Presently 

distinctive  raps  came  on  the  table,  and  'Charles  Louis 
Napoleon  Bonaparte,  I  salute  you,'  was  rapped  out. 
Dr.  S.  questioned  the  spirit  in  French,  and  answers  were 
returned  correctly.  A  curious  instance  of  this  was  as 
follows:  Dr.  S.  intended  to  ask  the  name  of  Napoleon's 
mother,  but  by  mistake  asked  for  his  wife's  name.  This 
was  given,  a  response  not  to  the  mental  intent,  but  to 

the   spoken   question Dr.    S.   asked   for   some 

direct  writing  on  one  of  the  two  marked  papers,  and 
assent  was  given,  'J'ecrirai.  Taisez-vous!'  Mentor 
controlled,  and  said  that  it  was  really  the  spirit  of 
Napoleon,  late  Emperor  of  the  French.  They  would 
write  on  the  paper  near  Dr.  Spear's  foot,  that  l^eing 
nearest  to  where  the  figure  had  been  standing.  After 
his  control  passed  I  was,  as  is  frequently  the  case,  clair- 
voyant, and  described  the  face  of  the  Emperor,  his 
waxed  imperial  and  moustache,  his  impressive  marble 
face,  and  wound  up  by  saying  he  was  a  'regular 
Mephistopheles.'  The  form  was  just  in  the  same  place, 
and  apparently  could  not  come  within  the  circle.  Men- 
tor was  at  my  right  hand,  and  rapped  clearly  at  request 
with  his  double  knock.  All  this  time  our  hands  were 
joined,  and  remained  so  until  the  seance  closed,  and  we 
found  on  the  paper  close  by  Dr.  Spear's  foot  writing 
of  which  I  append  a  facsimile/'' 

There  are  many  instances  of  writing  obtained  in 
languages  supposedly  unknown  to  the  medium.  Baron 
de  Guldenstubbe  obtained  writing  in  Latin,  Greek, 
Russian,  French,  German,  English,  etc.,  the  writers  be- 
ing spirits  of  greatest  fame,  such  as  Mary  Stuart,  St. 
Paul,  Cicero,  Melchisedec,  Plato  and  Juvenal.^ 


'  "La  Realite  des  Esprits  et  le  phenomene  merveilleux  et  leur 
ecriture  direct,"  quoted  by  Podmore  in  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp. 
188-189. 


86  Physical  Phenomena 

Sir  William  Crookes  relates  some  interesting  facts 
about  spirit-writing.^  At  a  dark  seance,  Miss  Kate 
Fox  being  the  mediimi,  a  Imninous  hand  came  down 
from  the  upper  part  of  the  room,  took  the  pencil  from 
his  hand  and  began  to  write  on  a  sheet  of  paper.  At  an- 
other seance  held  in  daylight  a  pencil,  which  had  been 
placed  together  with  paper  on  the  table,  suddenly  stood 
up  and  advanced  by  hesitating  jerks  to  the  paper,  where 
it  fell  down  exhausted.  A  lath  now  began  to  move  and 
apparently  came  to  its  aid,  but  in  spite  of  their  com- 
bined efforts  the  couple  of  them  did  not  succeed  in  pro- 
ducing a  message. 

Slate-writing  came  to  prominence  through  Mr.  Slade, 
who  had  many  followers  in  the  art,  notably  Mr.  Eglin- 
ton.  The  sittings  at  which  the  writing  is  produced  often 
take  place  in  broad  daylight  and  the  script  is  received  on 
an  ordinary  school-slate  or  on  the  inside  of  a  double 
slate  fitted  with  hinges  and  lock.  Mr.  S.  J.  Davey 
records  the  following  experiences  with  Mr.  Eglintonr 
"I  procured  two  ordinary  slates  at  a  stationer's  shop, 
and  these  did  not  leave  my  possession  during  the  seance. 
At  first  we  obtained  messages  by  simply  putting  a  piece 
of  slate-pencil  on  one  slate  and  holding  the  slate  on  the 
table.  After  a  while  the  force  became  stronger,  and 
messages  with  various  styles  of  writing  were  received. 
But  the  best  test  of  all  was  when  I  put  a  crumb  of  pencil 
on  the  slate,  and  then  put  another  slate  over  that ;  hold- 
ing the  two  slates  together  myself,  I  then  asked  if  I 
should  ever  become  a  medium.  No  sooner  was  the  ques- 
tion asked  than  I  heard  the  pencil  within  begin  to  move ; 
....  and  in  a  few  seconds  three  small  raps  were 
heard,  and  ....  when  I  removed  the  upper  slate  I 
found  the  following  message  written  in  a  clear  and  good 
hand.  I  was  particular  to  notice  that  the  small  crumb 
of  pencil  was  nearly  worn  out " 

^  '^Researches,  etc."  p.   93. 
'Journal,   S.   P.   R.,    1886,  p.   436. 


Physical  Pheno7nena  87 

At  another  sitting:^  "Between  the  famous  slate  pre- 
sented to  Mr.  Eghnton  by  a  distinguished  personage, 
with  a  strong  Brahma  lock  securely  fastened  by  myself, 
we  obtained  messages  in  the  well-known  handwriting 
of  (the  spirit)  Joey."  Later  at  the  same  sitting  mes- 
sages in  Greek  were  given. 

Planchette-writing  is  done  with  a  small,  oval  wooden 
board  having  a  pencil  stuck  through  a  hole  at  one  end. 
It  is  placed  on  a  table  with  point  of  the  pencil  on  a  sheet 
of  paper.  Sometimes  two  or  more,  sometimes  one  per- 
son alone,  by  placing  the  hands  lightly  on  the  instrument 
will  cause  it  to  move,  leaving  writing  or  drawing  on  the 
paper.  The  following  account  is  taken  from  the  Pro- 
ceedings :- 

"On  January  28  last  I  called  at  the  house  of  some 
friends;  and  on  this  occasion  there  was  some  planchette 

writing Some  four  or  five  of  us  sat  around  a 

table  in  a  full  and  well-lighted  room.  The  operator  of 
the  planchette  was  a  lady;  her  husband  was   at  the 

table Different  communications  were  received 

by  different  ones  at  the  table  ....  from  different 
friends  (as  the  Spiritualists  say),  who  have  passed  into 
the  spirit  world."  Among  other  messages  received 
there  was  one  from  the  sister  of  the  narrator,  who  died 
in  infancy  and  neither  could  have  been  known  by  the 
medium,  nor  had  been  in  the  narrator's  mind  for  years. 
The  message  as  written  out  by  the  planchette  read: 
"Mr.  Lewis,  I  am  his  sister,  I  am  glad  you  came  here 
to-night;  come  again  (signed)  Angeline."  Examples 
of  this  kind  could  be  multiplied  at  pleasure. 

Spirit-telegraphy  has  a  certain  superficial  re- 
semblance to  wireless  telegraphy.  The  message  is  sent 
between  two  parties  sitting  in  different  rooms,  one  of 
which  is  in  "rapport"  with  the  operating  spirit.  At  both 
stations  the  identical  message  is  received,  delivered  by 

'Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  1886,  p.  437. 
^  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  ix :  64. 


88  Physical  Phenomena 

means  of  raps  resembling  in  sound  the  tickings  of  a 
telegraphic  apparatus.  The  distance  between  the  sta- 
tions is  often  considerable,  messages  having  been  sent 
between  New  York  and  Washington.  The  following 
is  an  account  of  an  early  instance,  the  medium  being 
Mrs.  Draper  of  Rochester:^  "On  the  appointed  day 
the  above-named  persons  convened;  ....  and  as 
soon  as  order  was  observed,  the  question  was  asked, 
'What  are  the  directions  of  Benjamin  Franklin?'  A. 
'Hurr\'';  first  magnetize  Mrs.  Draper.'    This  was  done, 

The  company  was  divided  as  follows: 

(five  persons,  among  whom  Mrs.  Fox  and  Catherine 
Fox ) ,  in  a  retired  room,  with  two  doors  closed  between 
them.  Mrs.  Draper,  Mr.  Draper  (two  other  gentle- 
men) and  Margaretta  Fox  remained  in  the  parlor. 
Sounds  unusually  loud  were  heard  in  each  room  by 
either  company,  as  before,  resembling  the  telegraphic 
sounds.  They  were  so  unusual  that  Miss  Fox  became 
alarmed,  and  said,  'What  does  all  this  meanf  Mrs. 
Draper,  while  her  countenance  was  irradiated  with  ani- 
mation, replied,  'He  is  trying  the  batteries.'  Soon  there 
was  the  signal  for  the  alphabet,  and  the  following  com- 
munication was  spelled  to  the  company  in  the  parlor: 
'Now  I  am  ready,  my  friends.  There  will  be  great 
changes  in  the  nineteenth  century.  Things  that  now 
look  dark  and  mysterious  to  you  will  be  laid  plain  be- 
fore }^our  sight.  Mysteries  are  going  to  be  revealed. 
The  world  will  be  enlightened.  I  sign  my  name,  Benja- 
min Franklin.'  " 

One  of  the  sitters  in  the  retired  room,  directed  by  the 
sounds,  now  came  in  the  parlor  carrying  the  message 
received  by  his  party.  It  was  identical  to  the  one  re- 
ceived in  the  drawing-room,  except  for  the  addition, 
"Go  in  the  parlor  and  compare  notes." 

^  Podmore,   ''Modern    Spiritualism,"   vol.    I,    pp.    252-253. 


Physical  Phenomena  89 

14.  Spirit  voices.  Spiritists  often  tell  of  hearing 
voices,  meaning  an  "inner  voice"  not  perceived  through 
the  air.  This  phenomenon,  however,  belongs  to  the 
purely  psychical  group,  the  "voice"  being  but  a  kind  of 
intuition.  Spirit-voices,  as  we  here  shall  employ  the 
term,  refers  to  clearly  externalized  voices,  at  least  to  all 
appearances  perceived  with  the  ear.  As  in  the  case  of 
apparitions  there  are  two  kinds  of  spirit-voices,  those 
heard  by  all  present,  and  those  heard  only  by  single  in- 
dividuals in  an  assembly. 

The  former  kind  occurs  frequently  with  physical 
mediums,  usually  during  more  stormy  seances,  and  has 
a  close  resemblance  to  so-called  Poltergeist  phenomena. 
We  shall  content  ourselves  with  referring  to  Mr.  Koons' 
pre-Adamite  spirits  who  were  wont  to  deliver  speeches 
through  a  horn  or  a  trumpet  or  confidentially  to  whisper 
in  the  ears  of  the  sitters.^  It  would  be  of  no  particular 
interest  to  describe  this  kind  of  performance  in  detail. 

The  latter  kind  has  a  certain  resemblance  to  appari- 
tions of  phantoms,  but  occurs  more  rarely  than  these. 
It  is  found  mainly  in  connection  with  psychic  medium- 
ship;  thus  Mrs.  Thompson  occasionally  perceives  ex- 
ternal voices,  which  are  not  heard  by  those  in  her 
presence.^  A  certain  lady,  we  are  told  by  Mr.  Myers, "^ 
could  hear  human  voices  and  musical  sounds  by  holding 
a  shell  to  her  ear. 


See  p.  22. 

'  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,   xvii :  70. 
'  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,   viii :  492. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

Psychical  Phenomena. 

The  purely  psychical  phenomena  of  Spiritism  may  he 
defined  as  internal,  intelligent  and  immediate  mani- 
festations apparently  of  an  occult  agency,  directly  ex- 
pressed by  the  recipient.  We  call  them  internal  be- 
cause, in  so  far  as  they  have  a  source  outside  the  recipi- 
ent, they  are  not  conveyed  to  him  through  the  channels 
of  sense-perception;  they  are  intelligent,  because  they 
convey  an  intelligent  message,  as  it  were  from  an  in- 
telligent being  outside  the  recipient  to  the  mind  of  the 
recipient,  or  they  even  sometimes  show  an  actual 
usurpation  on  the  part  of  the  outside  intelligence  of  the 
control  over  certain  faculties  of  the  recipient  naturally 
exercised  by  his  own  will.  Finally,  they  are  immediate 
in  so  far  as  they  require — to  all  appearances —  no 
medium  of  transmission  between  their  apparent  out- 
side source  and  the  recipient.  Their  only  outward  ap- 
pearance consists  in  the  expression  given  to  them  by  the 
external  faculties  of  the  recipient. 

The  phenomena  reduce  themselves  to  a  few  closely 
allied  groups  which  we  shall  describe  under  the  head- 
ings apparitions,  automatic  speaking  and  writing,  and 
crystal  gazing.  It  should  be  noted  that  they  are  not 
peculiar  to  Spiritism,  for  in  their  essential  aspects  they 
are  ancient,  varying  in  form  and  appearance  as  from 
time  to  time  they  have  emerged  upon  the  field  of  hmnan 
experience.  To  a  certain  extent  they  are  recognized  in 
Mesmerism  and  especially  in  the  life  of  Emanuel 
Swedenborg,  and  they  are  exhibited  in  quarters  which 
disclaim  any  connection  in  their  regard  with  spirits. 
We  shall  present  here  only  such  phenomena  as  are  more 
commonly  observed  among  spiritistic  mediums. 


Psychical  Phenomena  91 

1.  Apparitions.  Collective  apparitions  of  more  im- 
material looking  phantoms  belong  to  the  rare  phenom- 
ena of  the  seance-room.  In  dealing  with  materializa- 
tion we  stated  the  difficulty  in  determining  whether  in- 
dividual cases  of  this  kind  of  apparitions  should  be  re- 
ferred to  as  physical  or  as  psychical  phenomena.  Of 
course,  the  difficulty  lies  in  determining- — on  the  face 
of  the  phenomenon — whether  it  should  be  thought  to 
exhibit  an  objective  reality,  or  whether  it  should  rather 
be  regarded  as  a  subjective  reality — a  hallucination  in- 
duced from  some  source  or  other.  The  difficulty  is 
naturally  lessened  when  the  apparition  is  seen  by  only 
a  minority  in  the  company.^  We  shall  present  here 
two  cases  from  Crookes'  experiments  with  D.  D.  Home, 
which  might  be  classified  under  either  heading." 

"In  the  dusk  of  the  evening,  during  a  sea7icc  with  Mr. 
Home  at  my  house,  the  curtains  of  a  window  about  eight 
feet  from  Mr.  Home  were  seen  to  move.  A  dark, 
shadowy,  semi-transparent  form,  like  that  of  a  man, 
was  then  seen  by  all  present  standing  near  the  window, 
waving  the  curtain  with  his  hand.  As  we  looked,  the 
form  faded  away  and  the  curtains  ceased  to  move." 

"The  following  is  a  still  more  striking  instance.  As 
in  the  former  case,  Mr.  Home  was  the  medium.  A 
phantom  form  came  from  a  corner  of  the  room,  took  an 
accordion  in  its  hand,  and  then  glided  about  the  room 
playing  the  instrument.  The  form  was  visible  to  all 
present  for  many  minutes,  Mr.  Home  also  being  seen 
at  the  same  time.     Coming  rather  close  to  a  lady  who 


^  Certain  phantoms  of  the  Palladino  seances  were  seen  by  a  minority, 
but  it  should  be  noted  that  they  could  be  seen  by  anybody  looking  from 
a  particular  part  of  the  seance-room.  This  fact  we  think  would  indicate 
their  real  objectivity,  and  that  they  were  visible  only  from  certain  parts 
of  the  room.  We  have  consequently  classified  these  phenomena  as 
physical. 

^  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.  94. 


92  Psychical  Phenomena 

was  sitting  apart  from  the  rest  of  the  company,  she 
gave  a  sHght  cry,  upon  which  it  vanished." 

Another  example  of  collective  apparition  occurred  in 
the  house  of  Mr.  Z.  where  W.  L.  had  been  in  service  as 
butler  for  half  a  year.  During  this  time  he  on  several 
occasions  had  seen  a  certain  ghost  dressed  in  brown  gar- 
ments with  two  tassels  at  the  side.  One  evening  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Z.  with  a  few  friends  tried  table-turning,  and 
W.  L.  entering  the  room  in  which  they  were  sitting 
again  saw  the  same  ghost.  "The  spirit  communicating 
through  the  table  then  promised  to  appear  at  11  p.  m. 
one  evening  in  the  drawing-room,  and  W.  L.  was  re- 
quested to  be  present.  The  gas  was  turned  low  and  the 
drawing-room  door  left  open.  As  the  clock  struck  11, 
'it'  walked  slowly  in."  The  dress  was  the  same  as  seen 
by  W.  L.  before,  apparently  of  Japanese  flowered  silk. 
"The  face  was  haggard-looking,  with  a  long  thin  nose; 
the  hair  fair  and  hanging  over  the  shoulders."  When 
the  gas  was  turned  on  the  phantom  disappeared.  Later 
it  indicated  to  W.  L.  a  spot  in  the  cellar  where  a  treasure 
was  hidden.  Investigation  failed,  however,  to  reveal 
the  treasure.  Among  the  seven  persons  present  only 
three  saw  the  figure  which  appeared  at  the  seances  on 
four  separate  occasions.^ 

Individual  apparitions  are  sometimes  seen  by 
mediums,  both  physical  and  psychical.  This  was  often 
the  case  with  Moses,  and  we  have  already  related  how  in 
connection  with  the  production  of  "fairy  bells"  he  saw 
the  spirit  "Grocyn  making  the  sounds;  he  stood  point- 
ing at  the  table,  and  as  he  pointed  the  sound  was  made." 
He  also  saw  the  spirit  of  Louis  Napoleon  Bonaparte, 
who  benevolently  produced  his  autograph  with  pencil 
and  paper. 

^  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  314-315. 


Psychical  Phenomena  93 

Mrs.  Thompson/  the  famous  psychic,  frequently 
sees  spirits  standing  in  the  room,  who  sometimes,  though 
not  always,  indicate  their  identity.  At  times  these 
figures  form  life-size  scenes.  Thus,  on  a  certain  oc- 
casion, a  glove-fight  witnessed  by  Frederic  Myers' 
son  at  Eaton  was  partially  reproduced  by  figures  ap- 
pearing behind  him. 


2.  Auto7natic  speaking  and  writing  constitute  by 
far  the  most  important  and  interesting  of  the  psychical 
phenomena.  Both  usually  occur  in  trance,  in  which 
state  apparently  other  personalities  than  the  normal 
waking  medium  control  his  body  and  use  his  organs  of 
speech  or  employ  his  hand  for  writing,  thereby  showing 
knowledge  of  facts  which  the  medium  could  not  have 
obtained  by  ordinary  means.  The  phenomena  in  ques- 
tion are  of  the  utmost  importance  not  only  as  being  the 
chief  means  of  alleged  communication  with  the  de- 
parted, but,  above  all,  as  constituting  the  channels 
through  which  the  spiritistic  revelation  is  given  to  the 
world. 

W.  Stainton-Moses  while  in  trance  would  deliver 
spoken  messages  purporting  to  come  from  spirits. 
These  were  taken  down  usually  by  Dr.  Spear,  who  al- 
most constantly  was  present  at  his  seances.  His  auto- 
matic writing  for  the  most  part  took  place  in  the  wak- 
ing state,  and  for  a  description  we  shall  refer  to  the  fol- 
lowing quotation  from  his  "Spirit  Teachings:"^ 

"Automatic  writing  is  a  well-known  method  of  com- 
munication with  the  invisible  world  of  what  we  loosely 
call  spirit.  I  use  that  word  as  the  most  intelligible  to 
my  readers,  though  I  am  well  aware  that  I  shall  be 
told  that  I  ought  not  to  apply  any  such  term  to  many 
of  the  unseen  beings  who  communicate  with  earth,  of 

^  F.  W.  H.  Myers  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xvii:70. 
^  See  Preface  to  that  work. 


94  Psychical  Phenomena 

whom  we  hear  much  and  often  as  being  the  reliquiae  of 
humanity,  the  shells  of  what  were  once  men.  It  is  no 
part  of  my  business  to  enter  into  this  ghost  question. 
My  interlocutors  call  themselves  spirits,  perhaps  be- 
cause I  so  call  them,  and  spirits  they  are  to  me  for  my 
present  purposes." 

He  then  goes  on  to  tell  how  messages  began  to  be 
written  a  year  after  his  introduction  to  Spiritism,  and 
how  automatic  writing  has  great  advantages  over  other 
forms  of  messages,  as  being  quicker  and  leaving  a  per- 
manent record.  He  procured  a  pocket  book  which,  for 
this  purpose,  he  always  carried  with  him.  He  con- 
tinues : 

"I  soon  found  that  writing  flowed  more  easily  when 
I  used  a  book  that  was  permeated  with  the  psychic  aura ; 
just  as  raps  were  more  easily  heard  on  a  table  that  has 
been  frequently  used  for  the  purpose,  and  as  phenomena 
occur  most  readily  in  the  medium's  own  room." 

"At  first  the  writing  was  very  small  and  irregular, 
and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  write  slowly  and 
cautiously,  and  to  watch  the  hand,  following  the  lines 

with    my    eye In    a    short    time,    however,    I 

found  that  I  could  dispense  with  these  precautions.  The 
writing,  while  becoming  more  and  more  minute,  became 
at  the  same  time  very  regular  and  beautifully  formed. 
.  .  .  .  The  answers  to  my  questions  (written  at  the 
top  of  the  page)  were  paragraphed  and  arranged  as  if 
for  the  press,  and  the  name  of  God  was  always  written 
in  capitals  and  slowly,  and,  as  it  seemed,  reverentially. 
The  subject  matter  was  always  of  a  pure  and  elevated 
chai'acter,  much  of  it  being  of  personal  application,  in- 
tended for  my  own  guidance  and  direction.  I  may  say 
that  throughout  the  whole  of  these  written  communica- 
tions   there  is  no  flippant  message,  no  at- 
tempt at  jest,  no  vulgarity  or  incongruity,  no  false  or 
misleading  statement,  so  far  as  I  know  or  could  dis- 
cover; nothing  incompatible  with  the  avowed  object, 


Psychical  Phenomena  95 

again  and  again  repeated,  of  instruction,  enlightenment, 
and  guidance  by  spirits  fitted  for  the  task." 

The  various  controlhng  spirits  showed  their  indi- 
viduahty  in  handwriting  as  well  as  in  literary  style. 
Moses  says,  "I  could  tell  at  once  who  was  writing  by  the 
mere  characteristics  of  the  caligraphy."  When  spirits 
appeared  who  were  unable  to  produce  script  they  em- 
ployed "Rector"  as  an  intermediary. 

"The  circumstances  under  which  the  messages  were 
written  were  infinitely  varied.  As  a  rule  it  was  neces- 
sar}^  that  I  should  be  isolated,  and  the  more  passive  my 
mind  the  more  easy  the  communications.  But  I  have 
received  messages  under  all  sorts  of  conditions."  .... 

"It  is  an  interesting  subject  for  speculation. 
Whether  my  own  thoughts  entered  into  the  subject  mat- 
ter of  the  communications,  I  took  extraordinary  pains 
to  prevent  any  such  admixture.  At  first  the  writing  was 
slow,  and  it  was  necessary  for  me  to  follow  it  with  my 
eye,  but  even  then  the  thoughts  were  not  my  thoughts. 
Very  soon  the  messages  assumed  a  character  of  which  I 
had  no  doubt  whatever  that  the  thought  was  opposed  to 
my  own.  But  I  cultivated  the  power  of  occupying  my 
mind  with  other  things  during  the  time  that  the  writ- 
ing was  going  on,  and  was  able  to  read  an  abstruse 
book,  and  follow  out  a  line  of  close  reasoning  while  the 
message  was  written  with  unbroken  regularity.  Mes- 
sages so  written  extended  over  many  pages,  and  in  their 
course  there  is  no  correction,  no  fault  in  composition, 
and  often  a  sustained  vigor  and  beauty  of  style." 

The  mass  of  ideas  contained  in  the  writing  not  only 
conveyed  opinions  opposed  to  those  of  Mr.  Moses,  but 
clear  and  definite  information  regarding  things  un- 
known to  him.  He  could  not  command  the  writing,  but 
had  to  follow  impulses.  "Where  the  messages  were  in 
regular  course,"  he  writes,  "I  was  accustomed  to  devote 
the  first  hour  of  each  day  to  sitting  for  their  reception. 
I  rose  early,  and  the  beginning  of  the  day  was  spent. 


96  Psychical  Phenomena 

in  a  room  that  I  used  for  no  other  purpose,  in  what  was 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  religious  service.  These 
writings  frequently  came  then,  but  I  could  by  no  means 
reckon  upon  them." 

The  following  is  an  account  of  "Rector"  quoting 
from  a  book  unknown  to  Mr.  Moses :  ^ 

Q.     Can  you  read? 

A.  "No,  friend,  I  can  not,  but  Zachary  Gray  can, 
and  Rector.  I  am  not  able  to  materialize  myself,  or  to 
command  the  elements." 

Q.     Are  either  of  those  spirits  here? 

A.  "I  will  bring  one  by  and  by.  I  will  send  .... 
Rector  is  here." 

Q.  I  am  told  you  can  read.  Is  that  so?  Can  you 
read  a  book? 

A.  (Spirit  handwriting  changed.)  "Yes,  friend, 
with  difficulty." 

Q.  Will  you  write  for  me  the  last  line  of  the  first 
book  of  the  JEneid? 

A.  "Wait — Omnibus  errantem  terris  et  fluctibus 
aestas."     (This  was  right.) 

Q.  Quite  so.  But  I  might  have  known  it.  Can  you 
go  to  the  book  case,  take  the  last  book  but  one  on  the 
second  shelf,  and  read  me  the  last  paragraph  of  the 
ninety-fourth  page  ?  I  have  not  seen  it  and  do  not  even 
know  its  name. 

A.  "I  will  curtly  prove  by  a  short  historical  narra- 
tive, that  Popery  is  a  novelty  and  has  gradually  arisen 
or  grown  up  since  the  primitive  and  pure  time  of  Chris- 
tianity, not  only  since  the  apostolic  age,  but  even  since 
the  lamentable  union  of  kirk  and  state  by  Constantine." 

(The  book  on  examination  proved  to  be  a  queer  one 
called  ''Roger's  Antipopopriestian,  an  attempt  to 
liberate  and  purify  Christianity  from  Popery,  Politi- 

^  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xi:  106-107. 


Psychical  Phenomena  97 

kirkality,  and  Priestrule."  The  extract  given  above 
was  accurate,  but  the  word  "narrative"  substituted  for 
"account.") 

Q.  How  came  I  to  pitch  upon  so  appropriate  a 
sentence  ? 

A.  "I  know  not,  my  friend.  It  was  by  coincident. 
The  word  was  changed  by  error.  I  knew  it  when  it 
was  done,  but  would  not  change." 

Q.  How  do  you  read?  You  wrote  more  slowly, 
and  by  fits  and  starts. 

A.  "I  wrote  what  I  remembered,  and  then  I  went 
for  more.  It  is  a  special  effort  to  read,  and  useful  only 
as  a  test.  Your  friend  was  right  last  night;  we  can 
read,  but  only  when  conditions  are  very  good.  We  will 
read  once  again,  and  write  and  then  impress  you  of  the 
book: — 'Pope  is  the  last  great  writer  of  that  school  of 
poetry,  the  poetry  of  the  intellect,  or  rather  of  the  in- 
tellect mingled  with  fancy.'  That  is  truly  written.  Go 
and  take  the  eleventh  book  on  the  same  shelf.  (I  took 
a  book  called  "Poetry,  Romance,  and  Rhetoric")  It 
will  open  at  the  page  for  you.  Take  it  and  read,  and 
recognize  our  power,  and  the  permission  which  the  great 
and  good  God  gives  us,  to  show  you  of  our  power  over 
matter.     To  Him  be  glory.    Amen." 

(The  book  opened  at  page  14.5,  and  there  was  the 
quotation  perfectly  true.  I  had  not  seen  the  book  be- 
fore; certainly  had  no  idea  of  its  contents.) 


It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Rector  often  constitutes 
the  intermediary  through  whom  other  spirits  purport  to 
communicate.  Mr.  Moses  was  satisfied  with  the  identity 
of  many  of  these  spirits,  proof  of  which  he  sets  forth  in 
his  "Spirit  Identity"  published  in  1879.'  Out  of  the 
great  mass  of  script  we  quote  the  following  case  which 

^  See  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xi :  69  et  seq. 


98  Psychical  Phenomena 

was  described  by  Mr.  Moses  to  Edmund  Gurney  and 
Frederic  Myers,  while  it  was  still  fresh,  on  their  first 
meeting  with  him  in  1874/ 

"On  the  evening  of  April  8th,  1874,  while  at  Bedford 
with  his  father  and  mother,  Mr.  Moses,  who  had  been 
receiving  messages  about  ancient  religions  during  the 

day,  began  to  ask  a  question.     'I  should  1 ,'  when 

a  meaningless  drawing  was  made  in  place  of  intended 
words." 

Q.     What  is  all  that?    And  why  was  I  stopped? 

A.  "A  spirit  wishes  to  communicate,  and  we  are 
commanded  to  permit  her.  She  is  not  able  to  write  with 
ease,  but  will  communicate  through  us.  Her  name  is 
Fanny  Westoby.    Do  you  know  the  name?" 

Q.     I  do  not  remember. 

A.  "Your  mother  knows  her  well.  She  is  a  cousin 
of  hers.     She  passed  from  your  earth  May  15th  last." 

Q.     Was  she  married? 

A.     "Yes,  her  maiden  name  was  Kirkham." 

Q.  Fanny  Kirkham.  Yes,  I  have  a  dim  remem- 
brance.    She  used  to  live  at  Markby. 

A.  "She  says  that  she  was  born  in  Alford,  in  the 
house  now  occupied  by  Sam  Stevenson.  She  then  lived 
at  Markby,  and,  having  married,  at  Belchford.  She 
passed  away  at  Horncastle,  at  63  years  of  age.  You  do 
not  remember  her,  when,  in  the  year  1845,  you  went  to 
see  her  at  Markby.  Her  mother,  Elizabeth  Kirkham, 
was  then  just  released  from  a  lingering  illness,  and  your 
mother  had  gone  to  condole  with  her  cousin.  You  were 
taken  round  the  farm,  and  rode  on  a  goat  (she  is 
anxious  on  this  point),  and  she  threw  you  in  sport  into 
a  heap  of  wheat  which  was  being  threshed.  The  result 
was  that  you  were  severely  bitten  by  the  harvest  bug. 
She  is  very  anxious  that  you  should  recall  this  to  your 
mother." 


^  Book  VIII,  pp.  78-83;   cfr.  Myers,  "Human  Personality,"  vol.   II,  pp. 
599-600. 


Psychical  Phenomena  99 

Q.     I  will.    But  is  it  wise? 

A.  "You  will  not  be  able  to  induce  her  to  search 
into  this  matter,  but  you  may  satisfy  yourself  that 
what  is  said  is  true." 

Q.     Has  she  any  message? 

A.  "She  says,  'I  lost  much  of  my  opportunity  for 
progress  through  the  gratification  of  bodily  appetite, 
which  cast  me  back.  My  course  of  progress  is  yet  to 
come.  I  find  my  present  life  not  very  different  from 
yours.  I  am  nearly  the  same.  I  wish  I  could  influence 
Mary,  but  I  can't  get  near  her.'  " 

Q.     Can  she  assure  me  that  she  is  F.  W.? 

A.  "She  can  give  you  no  further  evidence.  Stay, 
ask  your  father  about  Donnington  and  the  trap-door." 

Q.  I  have  not  the  least  idea  what  she  means.  All 
the  better.    I  will  ask.    Any  more?    Is  she  happy? 

A.     "She  is  as  happy  as  may  be  in  her  present  state." 

Q.     How  did  she  find  me  out? 

A.  "She  came  by  chance,  hovering  near  her  friend 
{i.  e.,  Mrs.  Moses),  and  discovered  that  she  could  com- 
municate.    She  will  return  now." 

Q.     Can  I  help  her? 

A.  "Yes,  pray.  She  and  all  of  us  are  helped  when 
you  devote  your  talents  willingly  to  aid  us." 

Q.     What  do  you  mean? 

A.  "In  advocating  and  advancing  our  mission  with 
care  and  judgment.  Then  we  are  permeated  with  joy. 
May  the  Supreme  bless  you."  "+Rector." 

The  exact  particulars  of  the  communication  as  re- 
lating to  Fanny  Westoby  and  the  trap-door  were  veri- 
fied by  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Moses,  and  her  death  was  also 
verified  in  the  Register  of  Deaths. 

A  rather  striking  message  received  bj^  Mr.  Moses  is 
related  by  Frederic  Myers  ^   whose  knowledge  of  the 

^  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  II,  pp.  230-2.34,  and  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R., 
xi:96  et  seq. 


100  Psychical  Phenomena 

soi-disant  communicator  and  of  incidents  in  the  case 
renders  it  the  more  interesting.  At  the  death  of  Mr. 
Moses  one  of  his  MS.  books  marked  "Private  Matter" 
was  placed  in  Myers'  hands.  The  pages  were  gummed 
down  and  when  opening  them  he  found  a  brief  piece 
of  writing  entirely  characteristic  of  a  certain  person  of 
his  former  acquaintance  whom  he  designated  as  'Lady 
Abercromby,'  and  who  had  died  some  twenty-five  years 
previously.  This  note  was  found  to  form  the  conclusion 
of  a  series  of  writing  signed  by  Mentor  and  Rector  and 
beginning  with  some  obscure  drawings,  apparently 
representing  the  flight  of  a  bird.  The  communication 
began  in  answer  to  a  written  question  as  to  the  meaning 
of  the  drawings: 

A.  "It  is  a  spirit  who  has  but  just  quitted  the  body. 
Blanche  Abercromby  in  the  flesh.  I  have  brought  her. 
No  more.    M." 

No  further  reply  was  given.  There  was  a  note  indi- 
cating that  the  message  had  been  received  on  a  certain 
Sunday  night  about  midnight.  On  the  following  Mon- 
day morning  the  message  was  continued : 

Q.  I  wish  for  information  about  last  night.  Is  that 
true?    Was  it  Mentor? 

A.  "Yes,  good  friend,  it  was  Mentor,  who  took  pity 
on  a  spirit  that  was  desirous  to  reverse  former  errors. 
She  desires  us  to  say  so.  She  was  ever  an  inquiring 
spirit,  and  was  called  suddenly  from  your  earth.  She 
will  rest  anon.  One  more  proof  has  been  now  given  of 
continuity  of  existence.  Be  thankful  and  meditate  with 
prayer.  Seek  not  more  now,  but  cease.  We  do  not 
wish  you  to  ask  any  questions  now. 

+I:S:D:X  Rector." 

A  week  later  more  script  appeared  in  which  the  con- 
ditions causing  the  presence  of  spirits  was  discussed. 
This  is  also  signed  by  Rector.    And  a  few  days  later  the 


Ps  11  chic  at  Phenomena  lOi 

writing  which  first  drew  JNIyers'  attention,  and  which  ex- 
hibited the  handwriting  of  'Lady  Abercromby:' 

A.  "A  spirit  who  has  before  communicated  will 
write  for  you  herself.  She  will  then  leave  you,  having 
given  the  evidence  that  is  required." 

"I  should  much  like  to  speak  more  with  you,  but  it 
is  not  permitted.  I  know  but  little  yet.  I  have  much, 
much  to  learn. — Blanche  Abercromby." 

"It  is  like  my  writing  as  evidence  to  you." 

First  it  must  be  noted  that  Moses  hardly  knew  the 
lady  in  question,  having  met  her  only  at  a  few  seances. 
He  could  have  had  no  knowledge  of  her  death  which  oc- 
curred about  200  miles  from  London  in  the  afternoon 
the  same  Sunday  on  which  the  first  script  appeared,  and 
was  announced  for  the  first  time  in  the  following  Mon- 
day's Times.  Her  handwriting  was  clearly  recognized 
by  Myers,  and  its  identity  and  that  of  the  script  veri- 
fied by  her  son  and  others. 

We  shall  now  pass  to  Mrs.  Piper's  automatic  utter- 
ances and  script  as  being  fairly  typical  of  the  best  pro- 
duction of  automatism.  She  will  fall  into  a  trance  for 
the  duration  of  which  she  is  "controlled"  apparently  by 
other  intelligences  than  her  own  normal  waking  Self, 
and  these  utilize  her  bodily  organs  of  speech  or  employ 
her  hand  for  writing,  showing  a  knowledge  which  is 
beyond  what  she  could  obtain  by  ordinary  means. 
Furthermore,  they  present  themselves  as  distinct  per- 
sonalities purporting  to  be  the  spirits  of  departed  hu- 
man beings  speaking  from  their  own  memory  and  ex- 
perience or  conveying  messages  from  friends  of  the 
sitters,  now  departed  from  earthly  life  and  living  in  the 
beyond. 

Phinuit,  Mrs.  Piper's  earliest  control,  exclusively  em- 
ployed her  voice  for  his  communications.  While  in  con- 
trol he  would  most  vividly  exhibit  his  own  personality, 
not  only  in  style  of  language  which  was  that  of  a  French- 


102  Psychical  Phenomena 

man  speaking  Efnglish,  but  also  in  voice  which  was  his 
own  and  not  that  of  the  normal  Mrs.  Piper.  The 
trance-utterances,  then,  distinctly  belong  to  Phinuit — 
be  he  spirit,  secondary  personality,  or  a  manifestation  of 
]Mrs.  Piper's  subliminal  self — and  will  consequently  be. 
referred  to  as  his,  not  the  medium's. 

The  sitters  were  usually,  in  so  far  as  could  be  as- 
certained, previously  unknown  to  Mrs.  Piper,  and  they 
were  never  introduced  to  her  by  their  real  names,  and 
consequently,  at  least  during  first  sittings,  it  would  be 
impossible  for  her  to  draw  on  ordinary  sources  of  in- 
formation. The  seance  would  usually  take  the  form  of 
a  dialogue  between  Phinuit  and  the  sitter  in  which  he 
would  make  mention  of  the  latter's  relatives  and  friends, 
and  answer  questions  regarding  them.  Often  he  would 
enumerate  the  various  members  of  the  sitter's  family, 
give  an  account  of  their  full  name  and  relationship, 
their  character,  features,  dress,  occupation  and  inci- 
dents in  their  life.  There  would  be  information  regard- 
ing the  living  as  well  as  those  departed,  in  both  cases 
given  with  equal  vividness,  accuracy  and  copiousness  of 
detail.  Phinuit  would  act  as  a  narrator,  and  only  in 
rare  cases  would  he  give  place  to  some  one  departed  al- 
lowing him  or  her  to  speak  through  his  medium.  He 
would  tell  of  the  present  condition  of  the  departed — 
what  they  now  looked  like,  wherewith  they  were  oc- 
cupied, whether  they  were  happy  and  so  forth. 

At  times  the  statements  were  perfectly  clear,  and 
given  in  a  straight-forward  manner  without  hesitation, 
and  this  especially  when  a  letter  from  or  an  object  which 
had  been  in  possession  of  or  in  contact  with  the  subject 
under  discussion  was  presented  to  Phinuit,  who  would 
hold  it  against  his  medium's  forehead.  Some  state- 
ments, on  the  other  hand,  were  rather  confused,  and 
while  making  them  he  would  allow  himself  considerable 
fishing.  Again,  some  statements  would  be  correct  even 
in  detail,  while  others  in  certain  details  or  even  as  to  their 


Psychical  Phenoinena  103 

whole  substance  were  found  quite  incorrect  and  some- 
times unintelligible.^ 

The  G.  P.,  or  George  Pelham,  control^  which  intro- 
duced writing  in  the  place  of  speaking,  appeared  in 
1892.  The  person  designated  by  this  assumed  name 
was  a  young  lawyer  well  known  to  Dr.  Hodgson,  who 
had  used  to  discuss  with  him  questions  of  philosophy, 
and  especially  that  of  the  possibility  of  future  life  which 
G.  P.  could  not  accept.  Before  his  death  in  1892,  which 
was  known  by  Hodgson  a  few  days  after  it  occurred, 
he  had  held  one  single  sitting  with  Mrs.  Piper,  at  which 
he  presented  himself  incognito.  She  could  not  very 
well  have  known  him  through  other  ordinary  sources. 

Four  or  five  weeks  after  G.  P.'s  death  John  Hart^ 
held  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  the  course  of  which 
Phinuit  exclaimed:  "There  is  another  George  who 
wants  to  speak  to  you — how  many  Georges  are  there 
about  you  anyhow?"  The  'other  George'  purported  to 
be  G.  P.,  and  gave  his  and  John  Hart's  names  correctly, 
and  also  mentioned  the  name  of  persons  who  had  been 
G.  P.'s  friends  in  his  short  earth  life. 

One  of  the  pair  of  studs  worn  by  John  Hart  was 
given  to  Phinuit  and  the  following  conversation  en- 
sued, Phinuit  speaking  for  G.  P.  :^ 

J.  H.    "Who  gave  them  to  me?" 

G.  P.  "That's  mine.  I  gave  you  that  part  of  it.  I 
sent  that  to  you." 

J.  H.     "When?" 

G.  P.  "Before  I  came  here.  That's  mine.  Mother 
gave  you  that." 

J.  H.     "No." 

G.  P.  "Well,  father  then.  Father  and  mother  to- 
gether.    You  got  those  after  I  passed  out.     Mother 

'See  Hodgson  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  vi:436-650;  viii:l-67;  xiii:284- 
295;   413-582. 

^See  Hodgson  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xiii:  295-582. 

'  Assumed   name. 

*  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xiii: 297. 


104  Psychical  Phenomena 

took  them.  Gave  them  to  father,  and  father  gave  them 
to  you.    I  want  you  to  keep  them.    I  will  them  to  you." 

Mr.  Hart  notes  that  the  studs  were  sent  to  him  by 
G.  P.'s  father,  and  that  he  afterwards  ascertained  that 
they  had  been  taken  from  G.  P.'s  body  by  his  step- 
mother, who  suggested  that  they  should  be  sent  to  him. 

James  and  Mary  Howard,  two  intimate  friends  of 
G.  P.,  were  mentioned  with  strongly  personal  specific 
references,  and  G.  P.  gave  a  message  to  their  daughter 
Katherine:  "Tell  her,  she'll  know.  I  will  solve  the 
problems,  Katherine."  Later  Mr.  Hart  explained  that 
the  message  at  the  time  was  quite  meaningless  to  him, 
but  that  he  subsequently  learned  from  James  Howard 
that  G.  P.  frequently  had  used  to  talk  with  Katherine 
on  such  subjects  as  Time,  Space,  God  and  Eternity, 
pointing  out  to  her  how  unsatisfactory  commonly  ac- 
cepted solutions  were.^ 

A  few  weeks  after  the  appearance  of  G.  P.,  sittings 
were  held  with  the  Howards,  who  were  not  predisposed 
to  take  an  interest  in  such  matters  but  had  been  per- 
suaded b}^  Mr.  Hart  to  give  Mrs.  Piper  a  trial.  We 
quote  from  Mr.  Howard's  notes  taken  during  the  first 
sitting  on  April  11th,  1892,"  G.  P.  apparently  con- 
trolling the  voice  directly: 

G.  P.  "Jim,  is  that  you?  Speak  to  me  quick.  I  am 
not  dead.  Don't  think  me  dead.  I  am  awfully  glad  to 
see  you.  Can't  you  see  me?  Don't  you  hear  me?  Give 
my  love  to  my  father  and  tell  him  I  want  to  see  him. 
I  am  happy  here,  and  more  so  since  I  find  I  can  com- 
municate with  you.     I   pity  those   people   who   can't 

speak I  want  you  to  know   I  think  of  you 

still.  I  spoke  to  John  about  some  letters.  I  left  things 
terribly  mixed,  my  books  and  my  papers;  you  will  for- 
give me  for  this,  won't  you?  .  .  .  ." 

^Proceedings,    S.   P.    R.,   xiii: 297-298. 
'  Ibid.,  pp.  300  et  seq. 


Psychical  Phenomena  105 

(What  do  you  do,  George,  where  are  you?) 
G.  P.  "I  am  scarcely  able  to  do  anything  yet;  I  am 
just  awakened  to  the  reality  of  life  after  death.  It  was 
like  darkness.  I  could  not  distinguish  anything  at  first. 
Darkest  hour  just  before  dawn,  you  know  that,  Jim.  I 
was  puzzled,  confused.  Shall  have  an  occupation  soon. 
Now  I  can  see  you,  my  friends.  I  can  hear  you  speak. 
Your  voice,  Jim,  I  can  distinguish  with  your  accent  and 
articulation,  but  it  sounds  like  a  big  bass  drum.    Mine 

would  sound  to  you  like  the  faintest  whisper " 

(Were  you  not  surprised  to  find  yourself  living?) 
G.  P.     "Perfectly  so.     Greatly  surprised  I  did  not 
believe  in  a  future  life.     It  was  beyond  my  reasoning 
powers.    Now  it  is  as  clear  to  me  as  daylight.    We  have 
an  astral  fac-simile  of  the  material  body  ....  Jim, 
what  are  you  writing  now?" 
(Nothing  of  any  importance.) 
G.  P.    "Why  don't  you  write  about  this?" 
(I  would  like  to,  but  the  expression  of  my  opinions 
would  be  nothing.    I  must  have  facts.) 

G.  P.  "These  I  will  give  to  you  and  to  Hodgson  if 
he  is  still  interested  in  these  things." 

(Will  people  know  about  this  possibility  of  com- 
munication?) 

G.  P.  "They  are  sure  to  in  the  end.  It  is  only  a 
question  of  time  when  people  in  the  material  body  will 
know  all  about  it,  and  every  one  will  be  able  to  com- 
municate  I  want  all  the  fellows  to  know  about 

me  .... 

Here  follow  references  to  several  friends,  to  a  tin 
box  containing  letters  and  so  on.  Finally  G.  P.  was 
asked  two  questions:  What  was  the  purpose  of  the  as- 
sociation he  had  formed  two  years  ago  with  Miss  Helen 
Vance  and  two  other  ladies,  and,  who  were  the  two 
ladies  in  question.  G.  P.  appeared  confused  and  gave 
wrong;   answers.      But   Phinuit   now   seemed   to   have 


106  Psychical  Phenomena 

taken  control  of  the  voice.  As  regards  references  to 
persons,  incidents,  characters,  etc.,  in  the  preceding 
dialogue,  they  were,  in  so  far  as  could  be  ascertained, 
correct.^ 

Mr.  Howard,  although  deeply  impressed  with  the 
feeling  that  he  had  communicated  with  the  departed 
G.  P.,  remained  unconvinced  until  the  eleventh  sitting 
held  towards  the  end  of  December  the  same  year,  when 
he  asked  for  some  convincing  proof  in  form  of  some- 
thing known  to  him  and  G.  P.  alone.  Mrs.  Piper  was 
in  deep  trance,  her  body  inert  and  lifeless  with  exception 
of  the  right  hand,  which  was  writing  persistently  and 
fiercely  in  answer  to  Mr.  Howard's  request.  Mr. 
Hodgson,  who  was  taking  notes,  makes  the  following 
comment : " 

"Several  statements  were  read  by  me,  and  assented 
to  by  Mr.  Howard,  and  then  was  written  'private'  and 
the  hand  gently  pushed  me  away.  I  retired  to  the  other 
side  of  the  room,  and  Mr.  Howard  took  my  place  close 
to  the  hand  where  he  could  read  the  writing.  He  did 
not,  of  course,  read  it  aloud,  and  it  was  too  private  for 
my  perusal.  The  hand,  as  it  reached  the  end  of  each 
sheet,  tore  it  off  from  the  block  book,  and  thrust  it 
wildly  at  Mr.  Howard,  and  then  continued  writing.  The 
circumstances  narrated,  Mr.  Howard  informed  me, 
contained  precisely  the  kind  of  test  for  which  he  had 
asked,  and  he  said  that  he  was  'perfectly  satisfied,  per- 
fectly.' After  this  incident  there  was  some  further 
conversation  with  reference  to  the  past  that  seemed 
specially  natural  as  coming  from  G.  P." 

In  order  to  test  G.  P.'s  power  to  see  things  on  earth 
some  experiments  were  made  among  which  were  the 
following:  G.  P.  was  asked  to  visit  Mrs.  Howard  in 
her  home  and  report  what  she  was  doing,  it  having 
been  previously  arranged  between  her  and  Dr.  Hodg-t 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,   xii:302. 
^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xiii:322. 


Psychical  Phenomena  107 

son  that  she  should  do  various  fantastic  things.  G.  P. 
reported  through  Phinuit  speaking :  ^ 

"She's  writing,  and  taken  some  violets  and  put  them 
in  a  book.    And  it  looks  as  if  she's  writing  that  to  my 

mother Who  is  Tyson  ....  Davis  ....  I 

saw  her  (Mrs.  Howard)  sitting  in  the  chair.  By 
George!  I've  seen  that  fellow  (the  sitter)  somewhere 
(touching  face)  (Why,  George,  you  know  me)  sitting 
before  a  little  desk  or  table.  Took  little  book,  opened 
it,  wrote  letter  he  thinks  to  his  mother.  Saw  her  take  a 
little  bag  and  put  some  things  in  it  belonging  to  him, 
placed  the  photograph  beside  her  on  the  desk.  That's 
her.  Sent  a  letter  to  TASON  (Tyson?)  TYSON." 
.  .  .  .  "She  hunted  a  little  while  for  her  picture, 
sketching.  He  is  certain  that  the  letter  is  to  his  mother. 
She  took  one  of  George's  books  and  turned  it  over  and 
said:  'George,  are  you  here?  Do  you  see  that?'  These 
were  the  very  words.  Then  she  turned  and  went  up  a 
short  flight  of  stairs.  Took  things  from  a  drawer,  came 
back  again,  sat  down  to  the  desk,  and  then  finished  the 
letter." 

A  statement  was  sent  to  Mrs.  Howard,  who  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Hodgson  -  affirms  that  she  had  done  none  of  the 
things  on  the  day  of  the  seance,  but  all  of  them  during 
the  previous  day  and  a  half,  and  that  nearly  all  the  de- 
tails of  the  description  were  minutely  accurate. 

The  death  of  Mr.  Edmund  Gurney,  which  occurred 
in  1888,  ushered  in  a  new  phase  in  Mrs.  Piper's  auto- 
matic communications.  Shortly  after  his  death  mes- 
sages purporting  to  come  from  him  were  received  by 
another  automatist,  and  the  following  year  by  Mrs. 
Piper.  Later  the  Edmund  Gurney  control  appeared 
in  the  script  of  other  mediums  as  did  also  those  of  Pro- 
fessor Sidgwick,  Mr.  Frederic  Myers  and  Dr. 
Hodgson  subsequent  upon  their  death. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xiii:305  et  seq. 
'Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xiii: 306-307. 


108  Psychical  Phenomena 

We  shall  sufficiently  refer  to  these  communications 
in  our  chapter  on  Spirit  Identity  and  shall  make  no 
further  mention  of  them  in  this  place. 


The  most  interesting  development  in  automatic 
script  is  found  in  cross-correspondence,  consisting  of 
independent  references  to  the  same  topic  occurring  at 
about  the  same  time  in  the  script  of  two  or  more  autom- 
atists  sometimes  separated  by  very  long  distances. 
In  the  better  cases  the  statements  of  one  automatist  is 
no  mere  reproduction  of  those  of  another  or  others,  but 
represent  different  references  to  one  and  the  same  idea, 
so  written  that  while  in  themselves  they  are  often  quite 
unintelligible,  when  taken  together  they  are  found  to 
complement  one  the  other  and  thus  to  form  a  coherent 
and  intelligible  statement.  The  different  parts  of  the 
correspondence  are  sometimes  distributed  over  a  con- 
siderable space  of  time  and  in  separate  trances.  We 
shall  here  present  two  examples  which  will  be  discussed 
in  a  later  chapter. 

The  "Ave  Roma  Immortalis"  cross-correspondence 
occurred  between  the  2d  and  7th  of  March,  1916,  the 
automatists  being  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mrs.  Holland.  The 
script  reads  as  follows.^ 

Mrs.  VerralVs  script  on  March  "2d,  1006. 

Non    tali    auxilio    invenies    quod    velis    non    tali 

auxilio  nee  defensoribus  istis. 

Keep  the  two  distinct — you   do  not  hear — write 

regularly — give  up  other  things. 

Primus   inter   pares   ipse   non   nominis   immemor. 

Cum    eo    f rater    etsi    non    sanguine    animo    con- 

sanguineus  ii  ambo  tibi  per  aliam  vocem  mittent — 

post  aliquot  dies  bene  quod  dicam  comprehendere 

potes — usque  ad  illud  vale. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:297   et  seq. 


Psychical  Phenomena  109 

Mrs.  VerralVs  script  on  March  4th,  1906. 

Pagan  and  Pope.     The  Stoic  persecutor  and  the 

Christian.     Gregory  not  Basil's  friend  ought  to  be 

a  clue,  but  you  have  it  not  quite  right. 

Pagan  and  Pope  and  Reformer  all  enemies  as  you 

think. 

Crux    significationem   habet.      Crucifer   qui    olim 

fertur. 

The  standard-bearer  is  the  link. 

Mrs.  VerralVs  script  on  March  oth,  1906. 

Leonis  pelle  sumpto  claviger  in  scriptis  iam  antea 

bene  denotatus.    Corrigenda  sunt  quaedam. 

Ask  your  husband,  he  knows  it  well. 

Stant  inde  columnae  relicta  Calpe  iam  finis. 

No  you  have  left  out  something.     Assiduo  lectore 

columnae  ( f ractae ) . 

Mrs.  Verrall  had  recognized  the  reference  to  the 
^neid  ("Non  tali  auxilio" — the  vain  defence  of  Troy 
against  the  Greeks )  but  the  rest  had  no  meaning  to  her. 
Dr.  Verrall,  to  whom  she  showed  the  script  on  March 
2nd^  said  that  he  saw  a  connection  between  the  two 
Latin  passages  but  did  not  tell  what  connection.  On 
seeing  the  script  of  March  4th  he  said  that  the  same  in- 
tention was  conveyed  by  "Pagan  and  Pope,  etc." 

On  March  11th  a  copy  of  extracts  of  Mrs.  Holland's 
script  of  March  7th  arrived  containing  the  words  "Ave 
Roma  Immortalis.  How  could  I  make  it  any  clearer 
without  giving  her  the  clue!"'  which  Dr.  Verrall  said  ap- 
plied appropriately  to  the  same  thing.  He  then  told 
his  wife  what  he  considered  the  script  to  allude  to,  being 
Raphael's  picture  of  Attila  meeting  with  Pope  Leo.^ 

^  Miss  Johnson  gives  the  following  description  of  the  picture : 

"The  picture   is  the  well-known  one   in   the   Stanza   d'Eliodoro   in   the 

Vatican.     The  Pope  sits  on  a  white  palfrey,  a  cross-bearer  riding  on  his 

left  and  cardinals  on  his  right.     Attila  on  a  black  horse  is  in  the  middle 

of   the   picture,   with   a   standard-bearer   in   the   background   on   his   right 


110  Psychical  Phenomena 

The  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  incident  introduces  the  Mac 
family,  the  five  members  of  which  had  been  practicing 
planchette  writing.  The  reading  of  Myers'  "Human 
Personality"  increased  their  interest  in  the  practice, 
which  now  gave  results  in  better  writing  and  in  new 
controls.  In  June,  1908,  they  read  Miss  Johnson's  re- 
port on  Mrs.  Holland's  script,^  and  on  July  19th  a 
"Sidgwick"  control  appeared  in  their  script.  Mrs. 
Verrall's  name  also  appeared.  On  September  23d  they 
made  themselves  known  in  a  letter  to  Mrs.  Verrall.  In 
this  letter  the  following  script,  which  occurred  on  July 
27th,  1908,  was  inclosed:^ 

"Sidgwick.     News  from  the  Orient    (Drawing  of 
rose)   Roses — dew-kissed — R.  S. 
Sidgwick.     Sesame  and  lilies — lotus  the  flower  of 
repentance. 

Sidgwick.  Vanity  of  vanities,  all  is  vanity.  A 
little  love  and  then  the  joy  fades  and  the  rose  is 
crumpled  and  wither  ( s )  up — fane. 

(Automatists  ask,  'What  is  that?') 
French     ('fane').      Bleeding    hearts    can    not    be 
staunched  and  the  voice  of  death  echoes  through  the 
brain  with  palling  monotony — Sidgwick.     Hollow 
and  mortal  vain  is  life  without  a  meaning." 

This  script,  all  from  the  Sidgwick  control,  has  refer- 
ence to  four  topics,  each  forming  the  subject  of  cross- 
correspondence  with  other  automatists,  viz.  :^ 

1.  "News  from  the  Orient"  refers  to  cross-corre- 
spondence between  Mrs.  Piper,  Mrs.  Holland  and  Mrs. 
Verrall  under  title  "Light  in  the  West." 

and  a  group  of  mounted  Huns  beyond.  St.  Peter  and  St.  Paul  are  de- 
scending from  the  sky,  both  bearing  swords,  and  St.  Peter  also  holding  a 
large  key  or  keys  in'  his  left  hand.  In  the  background  is  seen  the  city 
of  Rome^  with  the  Coliseum  and  aqueducts."      (Op.  cit.,  p.  229.) 

^Proceedings,  B.  P.  R.,  xxi:26tj  et  seq. 

'  Ibid.,  p.  269. 

» Ibid. 


PsycJiical  Phenomena  111 

2.  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  refers  to  Miss  Verrall's 
script  of  March  17th,  1907,  and  to  that  of  Miss  Verrall 
between  July  20th  and  September  1st,  1908. 

3.  "Vanity  of  vanities"  refers  to  Miss  Verrall's 
script  beginning  June  1st,  1908. 

4.  "Bleeding  hearts,"  etc.,  refers  to  Miss  Verrall's 
script  of  March  16th,  1908,  a  stanza  from  one  of  Victor 
Hugo's  poems. 

A  description  of  the  whole  script  in  its  connections 
would  here  be  too  lengthy  and  we  shall  confine  our- 
selves to  the  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  incident.  We  shall 
mention  the  script  in  chronological  order. 

A.  Miss  Verrall's  script  of  March  17th,  1908} 
"Alexander's  tomb  quinque  et  viginti   annos  post 

urbem  conditam 

with  fire  and  sword  to  purge  the  altar  not 

without  grief  laurel  leaves  are  emblem 

laurel  for  the  victor's  brow 

Say  not  the  struggle  nought  availeth 

Sesame  and  lilies  arum  lilies 

When  the  darkness  on  the  quiet  land 

Scarlet  tulips  all  in  a  row." 

The  words  "laurel"  and  "wreath"  occur  in  Mrs.  Ver- 
rall's script  of  February  6th,  1907."  Analyzing  Miss 
Verrall's  script  we  find : 

1.  Laurel  leaves  and  laurel  wreath. 

2.  Clough's  poem,  "Say  not  the  struggle  nought 
availeth." 

3.  Sesame  and  Lilies. 

B.  Miss  Macs  script  July  19th,  1908.^ 
"Where  is  the  little  blue  vase  with  the  lilies  that 

grow  by  Sharon's  dewy  rose  .... 
Search  the  Scriptures,  and  the  dust  shall  be  con- 
verted into  fine  gold." 


^  Proceedings,  8.  P.   R.,  xxii :  99. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  97-98. 

^Proceedings,  /S'.  P.  R.,  xxiv:273. 


112  Psychical  Phenomena 

C.  Mrs.   VerralVs  script  July  20th,   1908}   contains 
reference  to  the  Clough  poem. 

D.  Mm  Mac's  scnpt  July  26th,  1908.^ 

"A  blue  book  bound  in  blue  leather  with  ended  paper 
and  gold  tooling." 

E.  Miss  Mac's  script  July  27th,  1908.^ 
"Sidgwick.     Sesame  and  lilies — lotus  the  flower  of 

repentance." 

F.  Miss  Mac's  script  July  29th,  1908.^ 

The  "Evans"  control  says  that  Mr.  Sidgwick  is 
anxious  to  get  a  message  through  the  automatists 
to  Mrs.  Verrall  and  was  trying  to  do  it  now. 

G.  31iss  Verrall's  script  August  12th,  1908.^ 
"praeterita  rediviva 

O  mors,  O  labies 

Araby  the  perfumes  of  Araby 


H.     Mrs.  Verrall's  script  August  19th,  1908.^ 
"Let  your  hand  go  loose — let  the  words  come. 
It  is  a  literary  allusion  that  should  come  to-day. 
Think  of  the  words 

Liliastrum  Paradise — Liliago — no  not  that. 
Lilies  of  Eden — Lilith  no 
Eve's  lilies 

all  in  a  garden  fair.    Try  again. 
Lilies  swaying  in  a  wind 
Under  a  garden  wall 
Lilies  for  the  bees  to  find 
Lilies  fair  and  tall. 
Then  besides  the  Lilies  there  is  to  be  another  word 
for  vou  and  for  her  Lilies  and  a  different  word — 


^Proceedings,   *S'.    P.   R.,   xxiv:268. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  273. 
« Ibid.,  p.  2(59. 

*  Ibid.,  p.  270. 

"Ibid.,  p.  3l;3.     Mrs.  Verrall  saw  this  script  Sept.   1,  1908. 
'Ibid.     Miss  Verrall  saw  this  script  on  Sept.  1,  1908. 


Psychical  Pheno7nena  113 

So  that  lilies  is  the  catchword  to  show  what  words 

are  to  be  put  together. 

And  your  second  word  is  gold, 
think  of  the  golden  lilies  of  France. 

You  will  have  to  wait  some  time  for  the  end  of  this 

story,  for  the  solution  of  this  puzzle — but  I  think 

there  is  no  doubt  of  its  ultimate  success. 
Yours." 
I.     Miss  Verrall's  script  August  19th,  1908} 

"Blue  and  gold  were  the  colours  golden  stars  on  a 

blue  ground  like  a  night  sky — the  brimming  goblet 

the  eagles  prey  cupbearer  to  Zeus  himself,  but  it 

availed  him  nothing  when  the  peril  came  .  .  .  ." 
J.     Miss  Verrall's  script  August  22d,  1908.'- 

"Unto  this  last  that  was  the  message  to  be  given. 

The  cross  and  sceptre  the  double  symbol  temporal 

and  spiritual  but  the  cross  was  first. 

Who  said  'I  will  go  before  that  ye  may  see  the 

track.' 

It  was  in  the  cemetery  where  the  lilies  grow — a 

view  over  the  hills — blue  hills — in  love  with  death. 

Note  that  the  words  are  a  clue. 

But  you  have  no  but  you  have  not  yet  written  the 

most  important  of  all.    But  do  not  hurry  or  guess 

let  it  come  of  itself.   Is  not  there  a  change  this  time. 

You  should  consider  what  it  was  that  made  you 

feel  what  no    (drawing  of  lyre  without  strings). 

An  oriel  window  beautifully  traced  the  Western 

light  shines  through. 

F.  W.  H.  M. " 
K.     Miss  Mac's  script,  September,  1908. 

1st — Script  of  July  to  be  sent  to  Mrs.  Verrall. 

13th — Above  repeated. 

18th — Script  to  be  sent  by  September  26th. 

*  Op.  cit.,  p.  314.     Mrs.  Verrall  say  this  script  on  Sept.  1,  1908. 
^  Ibid.     Mrs.  Verrall  saw  this  script  on  Sept.  1,  1908. 


114  Psychical  Phenomena 

If  we  begin  with  E  we  read  "Sesame  and  Lilies," 
which  is  the  title  of  one  of  Ruskin's  books,  originating 
in  two  lectures  given  in  Manchester  in  1864.  The  lec- 
tures were  called  "Sesame:  of  Kings'  Treasuries"  and 
"Lilies:  of  Queens'  Gardens."  In  the  first  edition  each 
lecture  has  a  Greek  motto,  Sesame  having  prefixed  Job 

xxviii:5-6     ("Out    of    it    cometh    bread and 

.  .  .  .  dust  of  gold"),  and  Lilies  Canticles  ii:2  ("As  the 
Lily  among  thorns,  so  is  my  love  .  .  .  .").  This  edition 
was  bound  in  brown  cloth.  Later  editions,  bound  in 
blue  and  gold,  had  other  mottoes.  The  B  script  may 
well  be  considered  to  refer  to  the  mottoes  in  the  first 
edition  and  the  D  script  evidently  refers  to  the  later 
editions  bound  in  blue  leather  and  gold.  We  have,  then, 
in  Miss  Mac's  script  an  allusion  to  Ruskin's  "Sesame 
and  Lilies." 

If  we  now  turn  to  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  H  refers  to 
a  literary  allusion  "which  is  to  come  to-day."  Then 
"lilies"  is  referred  to  as  the  catchword  which  of  course 
indicates  cross-correspondence,  and  would  connect  with 
Miss  Mac's  script  B  and  E.  "Lihes"  is  to  be  the  first 
word  in  the  answer,  the  second  is  gold — which  fits  in 
with  "Sesame:  of  Kings'  Treasuries."  We  shall  not  en- 
large upon  the  various  connections  to  be  found  between 
the  two  scripts.  But  if  H  is  understood  to  refer  to 
"Sesame  and  Lilies,"  the  rest  of  the  answer  becomes 
clear.  In  G  Miss  Verrall  writes  "praeterita  rediviva." 
Praeterita  is  the  name  of  another  of  Ruskin's  books,  as 
is  also  Unto  this  Last,  which  occurs  in  her  script  in 
J.  In  his  preface  to  the  edition  of  1882  Ruskin  says 
of  Sesame  and  Lilies  that  "if  read  in  connection  with 
Unto  this  Last,  it  contains  the  chief  truths  I  have  en- 
deavored through  all  my  past  life  to  display."  This 
somewhat  chimes  in  with  praeterita  rediviva! 


Psychical  Phenomena  115 

3.     Crystal    gazing    is    by    no    means    proper    to 
Spiritism.     It  is  an  ancient  art  which  has  been  found 
among  the  customs  of  Assyria,  Persia,  Egypt,  Greece, 
Rome,    China,    Japan    and    India,    North    American 
Indians,  African  tribes  and  the  Incas,  and  is  still  in 
vogue   among  the    Shamans   of   Siberia   and   Eastern 
Russia,  the  Polynesians,  Australian  savages,  and  so  on. 
It  received  perhaps  its  highest  development  under  di- 
rection of  Doctor  John  Dee  of  the  Elizabethan  period, 
whose  "shew-stone"  has  been  perserved  in  the  British 
museum,  and  of  whom  Hudibras  says :  ^ 
"I've  read  Dee's  prefaces  before, 
The  Devil  and  Euclid  o'er  and  o'er. 
And  all  the  intrigues  'twixt  him  and  Kelly, 
Lescus  and  the  Emperor  would  tell  ye, 
Kelly  did  all  his  feats  upon 
The  Devil's  looking-glass,  a  stone; 
Where  playing  with  him  at  Bo  Peep 
He  solved  all  problems  ne'er  so  deep." 

His  "scyrer,"  Kelly,  not  only  could  see  spirits  in  the 
stone,  but  also  hear  them  talk,  and  he  often  kept  long 
conversations  with  them.  Sometimes  writing  was  seen 
in  place  of  spirits.  Since  his  time  the  practice  of 
crystal  gazing  has  been  carried  on  in  England  and  else- 
where and  has  simply  been  adopted  by  the  Spiritists.^ 

The  practice  consists  in  looking  fixedly  into  a  crystal 
enveloped  in  a  dark  cloth  or  otherwise  so  arranged  that 
it  will  return  the  least  possible  reflection.  Instead  of  a 
crystal,  a  vessel  containing  clear  water  or  some  other 
clear  liquid,  a  steel  mirror,  water  in  springs,  etc.,  can  be 
used.  It  is  necessary  that  there  should  be  nothing  to 
distract  the  "scyrer,"  and  consequently  solitude  and 
mental  passivity  are  to  be  strongly  recommended.     A 

^Part  II,  canto  3. 

-  See  Andrew  Lang,  "T/ie  Making  of  Religion,"  pp.  90  et  seq.,  and 
"Recent  Experiments  in  Crystal  Vision"  by  anonymous  lady  in  Pro- 
ceedings, 8.  P.  R.,  v:  490-504. 


116  Psychical  Phenomena 

surface  reflecting  the  images  of  surrounding  objects 
would  not  fulfill  this  requirement,  and  it  is  for  this  rea- 
son that  the  crystal  should  be  enveloped  in  black  cloth 
or  otherwise  protected. 

In  gazing  into  the  crystal  the  "scyrer"  must  avoid 
fatigue  no  less  than  distraction.  After  the  lapse  often 
of  about  ten  minutes  a  clouding  is  seen  in  the  crystal, 
which  will  dissolve  and  give  room  for  some  figure.  At 
times  several  figures  and  scenes  will  appear  dramatically 
representing  events.  Again  script  will  take  the  place  of 
figures  and  scenes. 

Mrs.  Verrall  in  describing  crystal  visions  says^  that 
they  are  unlike  all  other  visual  impressions  which  she 
has  received,  mentioning  mental  pictures,  faces  in  the 
fire,  shapes  in  the  clouds  and  spontaneous  impressions 
of  persons  or  scenes.  The  difference  between  a  picture 
in  the  crystal  and  a  mental  picture  is  quite  marked  but 
difficult  to  describe.  She  states:  "I  believe  that  with 
me  the  crystal  picture  is  built  up  from  the  bright  points 
in  the  crj^stal,  as  they  sometimes  enter  into  it;  but  the 
picture,  when  once  produced,  has  a  reality  which  I  have 
never  been  able  to  obtain  when  looking  into  the  fire  or 
trying  to  call  up  an  imaginary  scene  with  my  eyes  shut." 
Her  visions  include  animals,  human  figures,  common  ob- 
jects, geometrical  figures,  written  words,  scenes  and 
fanciful  groups  or  scenes. 

Movement  occurs  not  infrequently  in  the  pictiu'cs, 
and  so  does  change.  By  movement  she  means  altera- 
tion within  the  same  picture,  whereas  change  signifies 
that  the  whole  picture  undergoes  alteration  and  is  suc- 
ceeded by  another.  She  adduces  the  following  two  ex- 
amples of  movement  and  change  respectively: 

"Landscape,  large  piece  of  still  water  in  evening 
light,  beyond  it  mountains  and  hills,  two  snowy  peaks, 
one  sharply  defined  dark  hill  in  front — open  space  on 

^Proceedings  H.  P.  R.,  viii:473. 


Psychical  Phenomena  117 

right  of  mountains.  Steamer  passing  from  right  to 
left  till  it  touched  shore  and  was  lost  to  sight." 

"I  saw  nothing  for  some  time.  Then  a  flower  like  a 
convolvulus,  which  I  knew  to  be  pink  though  I  saw  no 
color,  first  sideways,  then  facing  with  a  hard  round 
knob  in  the  middle.  Then  I  knew  it  was  not  pink,  but 
metal.  I  knew  this  from  the  hardness  of  outline,  not  the 
color.  It  kept  changing  from  one  position  to  the 
other."  ^ 

Sometimes  the  picture  undergoes  development  in 
that  things  which  first  appear  dim  and  confused  become 
clear  and  distinct. 

The  pictures  shown  in  the  crystal  in  a  large  number 
of  cases  do  not  even  suggest  spirit  intervention.  They 
are  plainly  after-images  and  recrudescent  memories  or 
unconsciously  in  the  mind  of  the  percipient.  But  there 
are  visions  of  another  kind,  which  imply  acquisition  of 
knowledge  by  other  than  generally  accepted  normal 
means.  These  visions  are  often  premonitory  or  they 
represent  events  occurring  at  a  distance  and  not  at  the 
time  known  by  the  recipient,  or  past  events  of  which 
he  or  she  is  normally  ignorant.  The  figure  of  a  man, 
his  features  muffled,  is  seen  crouching  at  a  certain  small 
window  and  looking  into  the  room  from  the  outside. 
One  is  led  to  believe  that  some  account  of  burglary  has 
conjured  this  vision  in  the  imagination  of  the  recipient. 
But  three  days  later  a  fire  breaks  out  in  the  same  room, 
which  has  to  be  entered  from  the  outside  through  the 
window,  the  fireman  protecting  his  face  against  the 
flames  with  a  wet  towel."  Or,  a  small  bunch  of  daffo- 
dils presents  itself  in  various  positions  on  a  certain 
Monday  evening,  and  a  few  days  later  the  "scyrer"  re- 
ceives from  an  artist  friend  a  "Valentine"  with  a  bunch 
of  daffodils,  corresponding  exactly  to  the  picture  in  the 

^Proceedings,  »S*.  P.  R.,  v:474. 
^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  v: 517-518. 


118  Psychical  Phenomena 

crystal,  and  learns  that  the  sender  employed  some  hours 
on  the  preceding  Monday  in  making  studies  of  the 
flowers  in  various  positions/ 

Occasionally,  however,  the  crystal  vision  corresponds 
poorly  to  the  actual  object  to  which  it  refers,  which  was 
the  case  when  the  "scyrer"  described  the  person  of 
Queen  Victoria  as  "wearing  black  trousers  and  shoes, 
a  white  hat,  red  coat,  black  waistcoat,  having  whiskers, 
and  presenting  a  glass  tumbler."  ^ 


^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  v:516. 

'Ibid.,  v:514.  See  further  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  v:486-521,  viii:473- 
492;  x:108,  136;  xv:  48-50;  385;  Myers,  "Human  Personality,"  varia  loca, 
etc. 


CHAPTER  V. 

Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena. 

Turning  from  the  phenomena  themselves  as  they  have 
been  observed  and  are  found  described  in  the  sources 
upon  which  we  have  drawn,  we  now  approach  the  task 
of  accounting  for  their  origin.  The  problem  thus  offer- 
ing itself  has  for  a  long  time  demanded  the  attention  of 
men  identified  with  Psychical  Research,  but  so  far  has 
found  no  complete  or  definite  solution,  so  that  at  present 
the  subject  has  not  advanced  beyond  the  stage  of  more 
or  less  plausible  theories. 

In  dealing  with  Spiritism  from  the  point  of  view  of 
Religion  we  should  necessarily  be  supremely  concerned 
with  the  question  whether  or  not  the  claim  to  preter- 
natural causation  of  the  phenomena,  put  forth  by  the 
defenders  of  Spiritism,  can  be  substantiated.  And  evi- 
dently we  can  reach  a  decision  on  that  point  only  by 
exhausting  the  possibility  of  natural  causation. 

The  enormous  difficulty  which  such  task  involves  will 
be  appreciated  when  we  consider  the  divergence  of  con- 
clusions— or  rather  the  inconclusive  results — which  are 
the  fruits  of  the  strenuous  and  patient  labors  of  over 
sixty  years  of  scientific  investigation.  With  such  facts 
before  us,  and  realizing  on  the  one  hand  the  vast  im- 
portance of  the  subject,  and  on  the  other  its  bizarre  and 
evasive  nature,  we  can  not  dare  to  hope  for  summary 
and  definite  conclusions,  nor  must  we  treat  the  subject 
in  a  dogmatic  manner.  And  since  it  would  be  entirely 
beyond  the  scope  of  the  present  treatise  to  undertake 
anything  approaching  a  searching  investigation,  we 
shall  here  merely  in  a  general  way  refer  to  the  results 
already  obtained  and  give  a  short  outline  of  the  process 
by  which  we  think  the  question  might  possibly  become 
more  definitely  settled  in  the  future. 


120  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

To  begin  with  the  physical  phenomena,  there  are  two 
main  hypotheses  of  natural  causation  to  be  considered. 
For  the  phenomena  as  a  whole  may  either  be  spurious, 
that  is  to  say  surreptitiously  produced  by  mechanical 
means,  or  owing  their  merely  subjective  existence  to 
psychological  aberrations  in  the  mind  of  the  observer; 
or  they  may  be  genuine,  i.  e.,  of  an  objective  nature 
true  to  their  appearance,  in  which  they  would  have  to 
be  ascribed  to  some  hitherto  unknown  force  or  forces  in 
nature.  If  either  can  be  shown  to  offer  adequate  ex- 
planation the  ground  will  be  cut  from  under  the  spirit- 
istic claim. 

We  readily  admit  that  nature  is  far  from  having  been 
fully  explored  and  that  doubtless  she  may  harbour 
powers  of  which  at  present  we  are  not  cognizant.  The 
thought  that  such  a  force  or  such  forces  would  have 
been  brought  to  display  in  phenomena  which  are  new 
and  puzzling  has  long  been  in  the  minds  of  men. 
Mesmer  ascribed  his  phenomena  to  Animal  Magnetism, 
Petetin  referred  them  to  Animal  Electricity,  and  both 
Count  de  Gasparin  and  Sir  William  Crookes  sought 
the  operation  of  an  unknown  natural  force  behind  the 
phenomena  of  Spiritism. 

Baron  von  Reichenbach  thought  that  he  had  dis- 
covered a  force,  which  he  named  Od,  and  which 
emanated  with  a  luminous  effect  from  magnets,  crys- 
tals, human  bodies  and  other  substances.  But  so  far  as 
his  experiments  are  concerned,  it  was  never  proven  that 
the  luminous  emanations  had  more  than  a  subjective 
reality  in  the  mind  or  imagination  of  the  observers.  On 
the  other  hand,  more  recent  observations  and  experi- 
ments have  proved  that  psychical  emotions  cause  elec- 
trical variations  in  our  system,  and  radiations  from  the 
body  similar  in  effect  to  cathodic  rays  have  been 
registered  upon  jDhotographic  plates.^     It  seems  certain 

^  See  Boirac,  "Our  Hidden  Forces,"  pp.  249-259;  Tromelin,  "Le  Fluide 
JJumain" ;  Imoda  in  "Annals  of  Psychical  Science,"  Aug.-Sept.  1908;  and 
Baraduc,  "L'Iconographie  en  Anses." 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  121 

that  these  radiations  follow  variations  and  changes  in 
our  system.  As  a  rule  they  are  not  visible  to  the  normal 
eye,  but  can  be  seen  by  clairvoyants  and  psychics  de- 
pending, no  doubt,  upon  the  supernormally  increased 
sensitivity  of  their  senses.  Other  minute  effects,  which 
would  be  easily  explained  by  bodily  electricity  or  even 
heat,  have  been  registered  upon  a  very  sensitive  appa- 
ratus, while  attempts  to  test  the  odic  fluid,  or  whatever 
we  might  choose  to  call  the  emanations  from  the  body, 
upon  sensitive  scales  have  been  in  vain.^ 

The  physical  phenomena  of  Spiritism  postulate  not 
only  a  force  exerting  attraction  and  repulsion.  Such 
action  would  account  but  for  a  minority  of  the 
phenomena,  whereas  a  great  many  of  them,  such  as 
sounds,  impressions,  passing  of  matter  through  matter, 
raps,  touches  and  blows,  production  of  substances  and 
objects,  elongation,  the  fire-test,  and,  above  all,  ma- 
terialization, would  not  find  their  explanation  in  any 
force  analogous  in  its  operation  to  presently  known 
forces  of  nature.  A  force,  which  at  the  will  of  pref- 
erably an  uneducated  peasant  woman,  or  a  young  girl 
with  no  experience  in  physics — or  in  so  far  as  the  marvel 
is  concerned,  at  the  will  of  anybody — will  not  only  lift 
tables,  play  musical  instruments,  produce  faces  in  clay 
and  reproduce  the  texture  of  the  medium's  skin  in 
lamp-smoke,  but  also  create  shadowy  hands  and  figures, 
life-like  phantoms  with  all  the  properties  of  living  hu- 
man beings,  dressed  and  trimmed  in  female  costume,  or 
awe-inspiring  in  pickelhaube  and  bedsheet — which  ob- 
jects, by  the  way,  also  have  to  be  produced — and  again 
reduce  all  this  tangible  matter  to  the  ether  or  nothing- 
ness whence  it  issued — such  a  versatile  force  is  a  strange 
one  indeed — in  itself  a  stranger  phenomenon  than  those 
of  Spiritism. 

^  See  Flournoy's  and  E.  Dermole's  experiments  in  the  former's 
"Spiritism  and  Psychology,"  p.  296. 


122  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

It  would  be  an  obvious  weakness  to  refer  to  many- 
forces  with  different  operations,  especially  since  ma- 
terialization and  dematerialization,  if  at  all  possible, 
would  explain  the  majority  of  the  phenomena  as  being 
the  work  of  the  materialized  being.  But  materializa- 
tion, to  which  subject  we  shall  have  occasion  to  return, 
offers — at  least  apart  from  the  spiritistic  hypothesis — 
what  seem  to  be  insuperable  difficulties  of  acceptance. 

If  a  new  force  has  been  found  operative  in  the 
phenomena  of  Spiritism,  let  us  have  proof  of  its  ex- 
istence other  than  seventy  years  of  notoriously  fraudu- 
lent mediumship.  The  kind  of  proof  we  look  for  has 
well  been  stated  by  Sir  William  Crookes  who  writes :  ^ 
"The  spiritualist  tells  of  flowers  with  the  fresh  dew  on 
them,  of  fruit,  and  living  objects  being  carried  through 
closed  windows,  and  even  solid  brick-walls.  The 
scientific  investigator  naturally  asks  that  an  additional 
weight  ( if  it  be  only  the  thousandth  part  of  a  grain )  be 
deposited  on  one  pan  of  his  balance  when  the  case  is 
locked.  And  the  chemist  asks  for  the  one-thousandth  of 
a  grain  of  arsenic  to  be  carried  through  the  sides  of  a 
glass  tube  in  which  pure  water  is  hermetically  sealed." 
Till  such  proofs  are  forthcoming  we  need  not  appeal 
from  Spiritism  to  unknown  forces  in  nature. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  the  phenomena  when  studied  in 
their  ensemble  at  seances  to  our  mind  offer  little  en- 
couragement to  the  prospective  discoverer  of  a  new 
force.  With  few  exceptions  they  are  such  as  could  be 
performed  by  a  human  being,  most  frequently  with  the 
agency  of  one  or  two  hands.  The  mediums  usually  re- 
fer to  them  as  done  by  spirits  possessing  the  properties 
of  a  living  being — it  is  the  spirit  that  dips  its  face  in  the 
wet  clay,  that  lifts  the  table,  administers  the  blows,  makes 
the  raps,  carries  the  objects,  the  lights,  etc.,  and  pro- 
duces the  sounds.     Eusapia,  when  levitated,  could  feel 

^  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.  6. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  123 

pressure  as  of  a  hand  under  the  pit  of  her  arm,  and  her 
sitters,  when  molested  by  the  spirits,  could  feel  the  out- 
line of  a  hand  which  gave  the  blows,  or  of  the  fingers 
which  pinched  them.  During  her  seances  there  was 
mention  of  a  third  hand,  a  kind  of  materialized  spirit 
hand,  executing  the  various  movements,  etc.  If  to  these 
facts  we  add  the  frequently  occurring  materializations 
of  hands,  and  also  those  of  busts  and  whole  figures,  we 
come  to  the  conclusion  that  at  least  the  great  majority 
of  the  phenomena  are  not  produced  by  a  simple  natural 
force,  but  by  a  being,  acting  as  would  a  living  human 
being. 

Upon  this  conclusion,  apart  from  the  spiritistic 
hypothesis,  two  claims  may  be  based.  The  defenders 
of  materialization  as  a  natural  process,  whereby  the 
etheric  double  or  body  of  the  medium  will  escape  from 
the  material  body  and  manifest  itself,  see  in  the  phe- 
nomena the  activity  of  the  thus  externalized  and  ma- 
terialized double.  On  the  other  hand  more  skeptically 
inclined  people  are  ready  to  assert  that  the  whole  marvel 
is  the  result  of  trickery  and  prestidigitation  on  the  part 
of  the  medium.  Leaving  the  question  of  materialization 
for  later  discussion  we  shall  now  see  how  far  the  hypoth- 
esis of  fraudulent  production  will  lead. 


No  serious  investigator,  particularly  of  the  physical 
phenomena  of  Spiritism,  will  deny  that  fraud  plays  an 
important  part  in  their  production,  that,  in  fact,  dis- 
honesty among  mediums  generally  speaking  is  so  com- 
monly found  as  to  justify  an  a  priori  attitude  of 
skepticism,  if  nothing  worse,  towards  spiritistic  per- 
formances. While  it  would  not  be  in  harmony  with 
principles  of  scientific  research  to  reject  the  whole  mat- 
ter on  prima  facie  evidence  or  on  a  priori  judgment, 
nevertheless  we  feel  that  the  weight  of  this  evidence  is 
such  that  we  are  justified  in  refusing  to  accept  phe- 


124  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

noniena  as  genuine  until  proofs  to  that  end  have  been 
forthcoming.  The  grounds  for  our  attitude  may  be 
briefly  summarized  as  follows :  ^ 

Beginning  with  the  phenomena  themselves  it  must  be 
admitted  that  a  imori  they  are  very  improbable,  al- 
though not  in  the  same  degree,  for  while  raps  and  tele- 
kinetic  phenomena  might  be  placed  side  by  side  with 
already  accepted  physical  effects,  materialization  and 
passing  of  matter  through  matter  would  reverse  our 
whole  conception  of  the  laws  of  nature. 

Of  course,  this  point  does  not  disprove  the  possibility 
of  the  physical  phenomena  of  Spiritism,  for,  however 
firmly  our  conception  of  the  laws  of  nature  may  be  es- 
tablished, yet  it  is  not  unthinkable  that  some  future 
discovery  might  bring  about  a  readjustment.  But,  at 
least  in  so  far  as  the  fundamental  laws  of  nature  are 
concerned,  this  seems  exceedingly  improbable.  And 
consequently  we  feel  justified  on  these  grounds  in  in- 
creasing our  demands  upon  the  evidence  adduced  in 
favor  of  the  spiritistic  phenomena." 

Passing  from  the  phenomena  to  the  conditions  sur- 
rounding their  occurrence  we  find  that  the  arrangements 
in  the  seance-room  are  highly  favorable  to  fraudulent 
productions.  The  darkness  or  semi-darkness  of  the 
seance-room  will  to  a  large  extent  prevent  detection  of 
trickery,  and  facilitate  the  introduction  of  apparatus  for 
producing  effects  such  as  "spirit-lights,"  luminous 
bodies,  showers  of  fluid,  and  the  like.  This  is  empha- 
sized by  the  employment  of  a  cabinet  with  a  curtain  be- 
hind which  the  medium  may  operate  without  much  risk 
of  being  detected. 

'  We  follow  in  part  the  general  outline  of  Count  Perovsky-Petrovo- 
Solovovo's  a  priori  argument  as  found  in  "Les  Phenomenes  physique  du 
Spiritism:  quelques  difficultees."  In  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxv:413  et 
seq. 

''Count  Petrovo  (Op.  cit.,  p.  414)  quotes  the  principle:  "Plus  un  fait 
est  en  soi  improbable,  plus  nous  sommes  authorises  a  nous  montrer  diffi- 
ciles  en  fait  de  preuve." 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  125 

The  conditions  enjoined  upon  the  sitters  such  as  hold- 
ing of  hands,  remaining  in  a  certain  place,  thinking  of  a 
certain  thing  or  observing  a  certain  point,  etc.,  are  cal- 
culated to  act  as  an  effective  check  upon  investigation. 
The  playing  of  musical  instruments,  and  singing  and 
talking  during  the  seances — a  thing  frequently  en- 
couraged by  mediums — would  serve  both  to  drown  the 
sound  of  secret  manipulations  and  considerably  affect 
the  attention  of  the  sitters,  whose  powers  of  observation 
are  furthermore  dulled  by  the  mysterious  atmosphere 
created  by  the  expectation  of  the  marvels  the  medium 
will  announce  to  be  about  to  happen.  While  all  these 
conditions  may  not  be  found  at  seances  held  for  the  bene- 
fit of  scientific  investigators,  yet  it  is  a  fact  that  noted 
professional  mediums  have  been  unable  to  produce  a 
single  phenomenon  when  the  suspicious  circumstances 
were  removed.^ 

There  is  an  obvious  objection  to  this  point.  Physical 
experiments  depend  upon  certain  conditions.  Rub  a 
glass-staff  and  it  will  become  charged  with  electricity. 
Insist  upon  rubbing  it  with  a  wet  cloth  or  in  great 
humidity,  and  no  result  will  be  obtained.  Insist  upon 
taking  photographs  in  the  dark  or  developing  the  plates 
or  films  in  broad  daylight,  and  no  photographic  impres- 
sion will  be  received. 

On  the  face  of  it  the  objection  seems  to  carry  some 
weight.  But  the  conditions  upon  which  natural  physical 
phenomena  depend  are  first  of  all  simple,  and  usually — 
except  perhaps  in  the  case  of  photography — do  not  in 
the  very  least  suggest  a  secret  process.  The  reverse  of 
this  is  to  be  said  of  the  spiritistic  phenomena,  for  not 


^  From  1874  to  1886  Mrs.  Sidgvvick  conducted  a  series  of  investiga- 
tions with  eight  professional  mediums.  Not  a  single  phenomenon  could 
be  produced  when  necessary  precautions  were  taken.  See  Proceedings, 
S.  P.  B.,  iv:4.5  et  seq. 

Nor  has  the  American  Society  for  Psychical  Research  ever  been  able 
to  find  a  medium  that  would  produce  physical  phenomena  satisfactorily 
under  test-conditions.     See  Am.  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  i:230. 


126  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

only  are  the  conditions  complex,  without  which  they  are 
said  not  to  occur,  but  they  are  precisely  those  we  would 
expect  were  trickery  to  be  practiced. 

But  then  there  is  another  consideration  which  we 
think  will  be  of  still  more  weight.  Natural  physical 
phenomena  depend  upon  laws  and  conditions  which  are 
constant.  A  copper  wire  will  always  conduct  electricity 
— rubber  never;  light  will  always  dissolve  nitrate  of 
silver;  heat  always  procure  expansion,  and  so  forth. 
But  this  is  not  the  case  with  spiritistic  phenomena. 
Mediums — or  rather  their  "spirit-controls" — will  ex- 
plain the  "laws"  which  govern  the  physical  phenomena. 
And  these  "laws,"  said  to  be  of  a  sine  qua  non  nature, 
change  with  various  "spirits"  in  a  self -contradictory 
manner.  One  "spirit-control"  will  say  that  darkness  is 
necessary  for  the  production  of  phenomena — yet,  D.  D. 
Home  usually  operated  in  full  light,  so  did  the  slate- 
writing  mediums,  and  as  regards  certain  sittings  with 
Eusapia  we  are  told  by  her  investigators  that  the  num- 
ber of  the  phenomena  increased  in  proportion  to  the 
light. ^  The  chain  of  hands  is  necessary,  yet,  when  con- 
venient to  the  medium  it  may  be  broken  as  will  be  seen, 
for  example,  on  the  photographs  of  levitated  tables  to 
which  we  have  referred.  Certain  mediums — as  for  in- 
stance the  Davenport  brothers — will  operate  only  when 
isolated  from  the  assistants,  and  with  their  hands  and 
feet  tied,  while  others  will  not  consent  to  be  tied.  The 
apport-phenomena  are  rather  common,  but  some 
mediums  never  perform  them,  and  Home's  "spirit- 
control"  declares  that  "it  is  impossible  for  matter  to 
pass  through  matter." " 

When  we  come  to  inquire  into  the  materialization 
phenomena,  we  shall  be  told  that  they  depend  upon  the 
trance  state  of  the  medium.    According  to  Aksakov's 

^  Feilding,  Baggally  and  Carrington  in  Proceedings,  S.  R.  P.,  xxiii: 
323. 

-  Researches,  etc.,  p.  98. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  V21 

theory  there  corresponds  to  each  partial  or  total  ma- 
terialization a  partial  or  total  dematerialization  of  the 
medium/  Still,  at  Crookes'  tete-a-tetes  with  Katie 
King,  at  the  materializations  at  Villa  Carmen  and  at 
many  other  times,  both  medium  and  materialized  spirit 
are  reported  to  have  been  seen  together.  The  "astral- 
body"  or  "etheric  double"  theory  will  have  the  astral- 
body  of  the  medium,  which  conforms  in  size  and  shape 
with  his  material  body,  appear  outside  him,  and  such  is 
the  exact  resemblance  between  the  two  that  the  faces 
impressed  by  Eusapia's  double  in  clay  or  putty  are 
easily  recognized  to  be  her  face,  and  the  marks  of  her 
astral  fingers  in  the  lamp-black  could  not  be  dis- 
tinguished from  her  finger  prints  by  a  Bertillon  expert. 
But  Sir  William  Crookes  takes  photographs  both  of 
Florence  Cook  and  of  Katie  King,  and  finds  them  two 
different  beings:  the  young  lady  of  Villa  Carmen  has  a 
bearded  double  with  pickelhaube  and  bedsheet ;  Eusapia 
materializes  hands  of  men,  women  and  children,  big  and 
small,  hairy  and  soft. 

Jan  Guzik  is  never  entranced,  nor  even  isolated  from 
his  sitters  when  the  spirits  materialize.  However,  he 
makes  one  condition — no  pieces  of  cloth  impregnated 
with  luminous  substances  must  be  tied  around  his  legs 
and  arms.  That  is  the  supreme  "law"  of  his  materiali- 
zations. Some  materialized  spirits  are  flowing  over 
with  startling  information,  but  Mrs.  Corner  (Florence 
Cook)  declares  that  once  back  in  human  shape  the 
spirit  knows  no  more  than  the  assistants. 

The  very  phenomena  are  mutually  contradictory. 
The  immediate  presence  of  the  medium,  and  par- 
ticularly of  his  hands,  is  required  for  the  most  in- 
significant movement  without  contact,  whereas  apport 
takes  place  often  from  long  distances  and  at  that  neces- 
sitates the  passing  of  the  object  brought  through  brick 
walls  or  other  substantial  matter. 


^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxiii:323. 


128  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

Apart  from  the  element  of  contradiction,  is  it 
merely  coincidence  that  the  soi-disant  laws  of  the 
spiritistic  phenomena  seem  to  point  to  rather  plausible 
methods  of  trickery?  We  also  find  them  changing  in 
a  manner  which  can  not  escape  our  suspicion  when  we 
compare  them  with  fraudulent  methods  already  dis- 
covered in  use.  First  there  is  the  "materialized  hand" 
carrying  objects;  later,  when  the  trick  of  freeing  one 
hand  has  been  discovered,  the  "law"  changes  and  the 
"materialized  cord,"  unheard  of  before  Ochorowicz's  ex- 
periments, takes  its  place.  The  materialized  form  is 
said  to  issue  from  the  medium,  and  to  dissolve  by  re- 
joining him.  That  is  precisely  what  would  appear  at 
a  staged  materialization.  Grocyn  stands  pointing  at 
the  table  from  which  the  sounds  issue  at  Moses'  seances. 
All  in  all,  there  is  a  deplorable  coincidence  between  the 
"law"  and  conditions  which  would  favour  fraud. 

The  spirits  frequently  leave  relics  in  the  seance-room, 
but  these  are  invariably  of  the  most  terrestrial  origin — 
we  again  refer  to  Katie  King's  lock  and  the  piece  from 
her  dress,  both  secured  by  the  gallant  Sir  William — 
and  as  for  Anna  Rothe's  flowers  and  Baily's  birds — 
one  even  discovered  the  shops  from  which  they  came. 

Certain  mediums  have  been  subjected  to  seances 
under  test-conditions  which  at  times  have  convinced 
the  investigators  present  that  mechanical  trickery  was 
precluded.  Such  was  the  case  with  Sir  William  Crookes 
when  investigating  the  Home  phenomena,  and  of  many 
of  Eusapia's  investigators.  Of  course  their  judgment 
is  based  merely  upon  ocular  observation  which  cannot 
always  be  exact.  And  it  is  interesting  to  notice  that 
there  is  a  certain  relation  between  the  severity  of  the 
test  conditions  and  the  success  of  the  phenomena.  The 
early  days  of  Spiritism  show  more  astounding  phe- 
nomena than  we  have  been  accustomed  to  hear  of  of 
late  when  more  rigorous  control  has  been  employed. 
Home's  phenomena  were  more  marvelous  than 
Eusapia's. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  129 

If  the  conditions  of  the  seance-room  invite  to  fraud, 
there  are  also  ample  methods  of  fraudulent  production. 
Almost  every  physical  phenomenon  has  been  success- 
fully reproduced  by  mechanical  means  under  conditions 
not  only  similar  to  but  at  times  less  favourable  than 
those  of  the  average  seance-room. 

We  shall  not  attempt  to  describe  the  many  methods 
for  lifting  and  moving  objects,  producing  raps  and  all 
kinds  of  sounds,  causing  objects  to  appear  and  disap- 
pear, loosing  tied  cords  (whereby  the  medium  may 
easily  free  himself  in  the  cabinet),  producing  luminous 
effects,  "spirit-photographs,"  etc.;  suffice  it  to  say  that 
there  is  a  profuse  abundance  of  such  methods  known 
to  the  sleight-of-hand  artist.^  On  the  other  hand,  none 
of  these  methods  would  account  for  certain  phenomena 
of  this  order  as  they  are  reported  to  have  been  produced 
by  certain  mediums,  notably  the  "elongations"  and 
"fire-test"  of  D.  D.  Home.  But  to  these  cases  we  shall 
return  later. 

The  phenomena  which  convey  intelligence  are  as 
easily  accounted  for  by  fraud  as  those  of  a  purely 
physical  character.  We  need  make  no  new  reference 
to  raps  as  occurring  in  "rapping-messages"  and 
"spirit-telegraphy."  Slate-writing  is  easily  performed 
without  the  intervention  of  spirits.  Both  Slade  and 
Eglinton,  the  foremost  slate-writing  mediums,  were 
found  to  produce  the  phenomena  by  substituting  the 
original  slate  for  a  prepared  one."  Mr.  S.  J.  Davey 
learned  the  tricks  connected  with  this  art,  and  gave  per- 
formances in  broad  daylight  which  baffled  such  critics 
even  as  Mr.  Podmore.^ 


^  Hereward  Carrington  has  devoted  considerable  space  in  his  "The 
Physical  Phenomena  of  Spiritualiswi"  to  a  description  of  a  few  of  these 
methods.     See  also  Paul  Carus,  "The  Old  and  Neiv  Magic,"  Chicago,  1906. 

-  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  p.  95,  and  Criticism  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  in 
Journal,  S.  P.  7?..  June,  1886. 

^  "He  produced  a  long  message  in  Japanese  for  a  Japanese  marquis; 
he  made — or  seemed  to  make — pieces  of  chalk  under  a  glass  describe 
geometrical  figures  .  .  . ;   ...  he  materialized  in  strong  light  a  woman's 


130  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

Planchette-writing,  in  so  far  as  its  physical  part  is 
concerned,  differs  little  from  table  turning.  Direct 
"spirit- writing"  with  pencil  and  paper  may  be  per- 
formed by  sleight-of-hand  as  easily  as  any  "apport" 
phenomenon. 

"Materialization"  may,  without  great  difficulty,  be 
staged  in  a  dark  room^  with  the  aid  of  a  few  yards  of 
white  netting  previously  impregnated  with  a  luminous 
substance.  The  performer,  dressed  in  black  and  wear- 
ing a  black  mask,  is  invisible  in  the  darkness.  He  car- 
ries the  prepared  netting  in  a  small,  black  bag  in  his 
vest-pocket^  or  keeps  it  concealed  in  the  back  of  his 
chair,  and  all  he  has  to  do  is  to  take  it  out,  let  it  appear 
on  the  floor  as  a  small,  glowing  ball  which,  as  he  un- 
folds it,  grows  into  a  phantastic  rising  spirit-shape,  and, 
finally,  wrapped  round  him  as  he  takes  off  his  black 
mask  and  gloves,  which  have  hidden  face  and  hands 
powdered  with  luminous  substance,  presents  a  life-like, 
full-fledged  "materialized"  spirit. 

Whole  scores  of  "ghosts"  have  been  introduced  into 
the  seance-room  by  this  method,  and  readily  recognized 
by  the  sitters  as  their  departed  parents,  grandparents, 
children,  friends  and  relatives.  Yea,  the  most  charming 
"spirit-queens"  have  been  known  to  have  returned  to 
the  shadows  of  earth  in  quest  of  some  pecunious 
"affinity,"  to  sweeten  his  life  and  empty  his  pocket- 
book.^ 

So  far  we  have  shown  that  there  exist  conditions  and 
methods  which  render  the  physical  phenomena  as  a 
whole  exceedingly  suspicious.  That  our  suspicions  are 
not    unfounded    is    eminently    shown    throughout    the 

head,  wliicli  floated  in  the  air  and  then  dematerialized ;  and  the  half- 
length  figure  of  a  bearded  man,  in  a  turban,  reading  a  book,  who  bowed 
to  the  circle  and  finally  disappeared  through  the  ceiling  with  a  scraping 
noise."  (Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp.  104-105;  see  also  Proceedings, 
8.  P.  R.,  vi:416,  418.) 

^Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  pp.   230-275. 

=  Ibid.,  pp.  2.50-251. 

Mbid.,  pp.  2.58-2G0. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  131 

history  of  the  spiritistic  movement,  which,  at  least  in 
so  far  as  physical  phenomena  are  concerned,  is  so  filled 
with  evidence  of  fraud  that  it  would  seem  that  genuine 
productions  were  scarcely  ever  exhibited.  The  Fox 
girls  were  exposed  in  fraud,^  so  were  Anna  Rothe," 
Miss  Cook,^  Miss  Wood,^  Mrs.  Mellon,^  Messrs.  Slade*^ 
and  Eglinton,^  Herne,^  Williams  and  Rita,"  Bastian 
and  Taylor,^"  Miss  Showers,"  Eusapia  Palladino,^^  the 
spirit-photographers,^^  the  Austrahan,  Bailey,^ ^  Charles 
Eldred,  ^^  Craddock;  ^^  as  a  fact  almost  every  pro- 
fessional physical,  and  most  psychic  mediums  have — 
in  many  cases  repeatedly — been  detected  in  trickery; 
and  only  the  most  amazing  credulity  coupled  with 
ignorance  on  the  part  of  the  masses  can  explain  the 
continued  prosperity  of  the  profession.^ ^  ....  Nor 
is  fraud  to  be  laid  at  the  door  of  the  paid  medium  alone, 
for  the  desire  to  receive  notice,  to  be  extraordinary  and 
interesting  and  to  be  considered  specially  gifted  has 

'See  pp.  19-20. 

'^  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  1894,  p.  388;   1895,  p.  53. 

'  See  p.  26. 

^  Podmore,  "Modern  t^piritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp.  198,  112-113. 

°  T.  Shekleton  Henry,  "Spookland,"  pp.  50-51. 

'See  p.  31  and  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  1905,  p.  218. 

'Podmore,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  206-207;   "Studies,  etc.,"  p.   100. 

*  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.  107. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  Ill,  and  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  1894,  p.  333. 

'"  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.   107. 

"Ibid.,  p.  104. 

"See  p.  41. 

"See  pp.   26-27. 

^*  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  1905,  p.  218. 

'^Ibid.,  1906,  pp.   184  and  292. 

'"Ibid.,  1906,  pp.  320,  448. 

"  J.  N.  Maskelyne,  a  former  professional  medium,  in  "The  Super- 
natural," p.  183,  says:  "There  does  not  exist,  and  there  never  existed, 
a  professional  medium  of  any  note  who  has  not  been  convicted  of  trickery 
or  fraud."     He  evidently  forgets  the  case  of  D.  D.  Home. 

The  author  of  "The  Revelations  of  a  Spirit  Medium,"  a  former 
Spiritist  who  admits  fraud  in  his  own  performances,  states  (p.  95)  :  "Of 
all  the  mediums  I  have  met,  in  eighteen  years,  and  that  means  a  great 
many,  in  many  phases,  I  have  never  met  owe  that  was  not  sailing  the 
very  same  description  of  craft  as  myself."  See  also  Myers  on  "Resolute 
Credulity"  and  "Spurious  Mediumship"  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xi:213- 
234,  and  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  iii:  199-207. 


132  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

caused  many  an  one  to  seek  emergence  from  the  com- 
j)arative  obscurity,  which  talent  failed  to  dispel,  in 
parading  an  enviable  intimacy  with  the  great  spirits 
of  the  past  before  small  circles  of  up-to-date  society. 

We  have  just  mentioned  that  malobservation  is  not 
excluded  even  on  the  part  of  the  skeptical  scientist  and 
critic  examining  the  phenomena.  But  if  we  turn  to  the 
great  mass  of  evidence  for  genuine  phenomena  pub- 
lished broadcast  in  magazines  and  newspapers  by  peo- 
ple who  do  not  attend  seances  in  the  capacity  of  critics 
but  whose  credulity  and  disposition  towards  S^^iritism 
inclines  them  to  accept  whatever  is  presented  to  them 
no  matter  under  what  conditions,  we  shall  find  that  it 
is  without  any  value  whatsoever.  And  yet,  it  is  this 
kind  of  evidence  which  is  placed  before  the  vast,  un- 
critical public.  That  such  an  attitude  not  only  facili- 
tates, but  positively  invites,  fraud  goes  without  saying. 
Mr.  Myers  gives  some  interesting  data  on  credulity 
and  fraud  in  his  articles  on  "Resolute  Credulity"  ^  and 
"Spurious  Mediumship."  ^  Add  to  this  that  the 
medimii,  when  the  phenomena  are  slow  in  coming,  may 
receive  help  from  fanatic  sitters  who  know  that  the 
spirits  can  cause  them,  and  when  for  some  reason  or 
other  they  fail,  do  what  the  spirits  would  have  done. 

But  apart  from  credulity  and  fanaticism,  many  a 
sensible  and  unprejudiced  investigator  will  be  deceived, 
for  it  takes  long  training  to  be  a  good  observer.  One 
must  know  and  be  prepared  for  tricks  and  avoid  being 
distracted  by  the  methods  by  which  mediums  know  to 
control  the  attention  of  their  sitters.  It  is  extremely 
hard,  if  not  mostly  impossible,  to  detect  the  methods  of 
professional  jugglers.  But  jugglers  are  expected  to 
"perform"  without  mishap  and  failure,  whereas  the 
medium  can  fail  as  many  times  as  he  wishes — and 
blame  it  on  the  spirits — and  choose  for  his  phenomena 

^  In  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xi:  213-234. 
^In  Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  iii:  199-207. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  133 

moments  when  the  attention  of  the  observers  is  properly 
diverted  and  other  conditions  are  favourable.  Even 
detection  of  constant  trickery  is  no  more  considered  an 
argument  against  the  occurrence  of  genuine  phenomena. 


The  a  priori  argument,  as  said,  does  not  prove  that 
the  whole  of  the  physical  phenomena  is  imposture.  But 
it  goes  to  show  how  greatly  they  are  open  to  suspicion 
and  certainly  places  on  their  side  the  onus  probandi. 
After  all  that  has  been  said  we  feel  fully  justified  in 
refusing  to  accept  as  genuine  a  single  physical  phe- 
nomenon in  the  absense  of  direct,  positive  evidence.  In 
seeking  this  we  shall  briefly  review  some  of  the  results 
obtained  by  scientific  investigations,  and  particularly 
by  those  associated  with  Psychical  Research,  reserving 
the  phenomenon  of  materialization  for  a  special  ex- 
amination. 

Investigation  in  the  past  is  associated  especially  with 
the  names  of  Dr.  Hare,  Professor  Zollner,  and  Sir 
William  Crookes.  Mr.  Moses,  although  never  subject 
to  scientific  examination,  offers  evidence  at  least  in  a 
certain  respect  valuable.  More  modern  times  have  had 
a  large  number  of  investigators,  experimenting  with 
several  remarkable  mediums,  but  we  shall  confine  our- 
selves here  to  the  investigations  conducted  with  Eusapia 
Palladino  whom  Carrington  hails  as  the  greatest  of  all 
physical  mediimis.^ 

To  begin  with  Professor  Zollner  we  find  that  the  only 
accounts  of  his  experiments  are  given  by  himself."  The 
value  of  his  written  evidence  depends  entirely  upon 
whether  the  phenomena  actually  occurred  as  described 
therein,  or  whether  the  medium,  Slade,  succeeded  in  de- 
ceiving Zollner.  There  is  nothing  to  corroborate 
Zollner' s  testimony. 


^  "In  her  may  now  be  said  to  culminate  and  focus  the  whole  evi- 
dential case  for  the  physical  phenomena  of  spiritualism." — "Eusapia 
Palladino  and  her  Phenomena,"  p.  4. 

'  In  "Transcendental  Physics." 


134  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

To  this  should  be  added  the  fact  that  Slade  was 
notorious  for  fraudulent  performances  outside  the  sit- 
tings with  Zollner^  and  even  seems  to  have  confessed 
trickery."  Carrington^  gives  a  rather  detailed  account 
of  the  tricks  by  which  the  phenomena  in  question  might 
be  produced,  and  also  of  the  possible  sources  of  error 
in  Zollner's  observation ;  and  taking  all  together  we  are 
forced  to  admit  that  Zollner's  experiments  furnish  no 
valid  evidence  for  the  genuineness  of  Slade's  phe- 
nomena. 

We  shall  not  detain  ourselves  with  Dr.  Hare's  ex- 
periments since  it  is  generally  admitted  that  the  evi- 
dence they  offer  for  the  genuineness  of  physical  phe- 
nomena is  inferior  to  that  of  Zollner.^ 

Sir  William  Crookes'  experiments  fall  into  three 
parts:  those  conducted  with  Miss  Cook  for  the  investi- 
gation of  "materialization,"  those  conducted  with  D.  D. 
Home  covering  physical  phenomena  in  general  and 
change  in  weight  in  particular,  and  his  observations  in 
regard  to  sounds. 

Let  us  begin  with  D.  D.  Home.  It  has  often  been 
stated  that  this  gentleman  holds  the  unique  position  in 
the  annals  of  Spiritism  of  being  the  only  physical 
medium  who  was  never  discovered  in  trickery.  We  can 
adduce  the  testimony  of  only  one  person  to  the  con- 
trary. But  this  is  in  no  way  surprising  if  on  the  one 
hand  we  consider  the  character  of  Home  and  his 
presence  which  won  for  him  the  personal  affection  and 
esteem  of  all  those  with  whom  he  came  in  contact  and 
a  priori  inclined  his  audience  to  look  upon  him  as  a  man 

^  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp.  87-90;  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
in  Proceedings,  <Sf.  P.  R.,  iv:56;  Report  of  the  Seyhert  Commission,  pp. 
56-59;  Truesdell,  "Spiritualism,  Bottom  Facts,"  passim;  Carrington,  "The 
Physical  Phenomena   of  Spiritualism,"  pp.   20-24. 

-  Report  of  the  Seybert  Commission,  p.  70. 

^  "The  Physical  Phenomena  of  Spirittialism,"  pp.  24-47. 

*  Dr.  Hyslop  says :  "Hare's  experiments  .  .  .  were  not  so  good 
as  Zollner's"  {"Borderland  of  Psychical  Research,"  p.  237)  ;  See  also 
Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  p.  49. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  135 

beyond  suspicion ;  on  the  other  that  this  very  audience — 
people  of  society — gathered  around  him  more  to  be 
amused  and  entertained  than  to  investigate  his  phe- 
nomena, this  with  only  a  few  notable  exceptions,  par- 
ticidarly  Sir  William  Crookes,  whose  experiments  with 
Home  we  now  propose  to  discuss.  But  let  us  first  quote 
a  letter  written  in  August,  185.5,  by  Mr.  Merrifield,  and 
bearing  upon  Home's  phenomena:^ 

".  .  .  .  Just  as  we  were  on  the  point  of  taking  our 
leave,  the  medium  professed  his  willingness  to  give  us 
another  sitting.  Accordingly,  we  took  our  places  at  the 
side  of  the  table,  the  medium  occupying  the  extreme 
right,  and  a  constant  associate  of  his  sitting  opposite 
to  him.  I  sat  nearly  halfway  between  them,  and  there- 
fore facing  the  windows.  The  table  was  circular,  and 
the  semicircle  nearest  the  window  was  unoccupied.  The 
lights  were  removed,  and  very  soon  the  operations  be- 
gan. It  was  about  eleven  o'clock;  the  moon  had  set, 
but  the  night  was  starlight,  and  we  could  well  see  the 
outline  of  the  windows  and  distinguished,  though  not 
with  accuracy  of  outline,  the  form  of  any  large  object 
intervening  before  them.  The  medium  sat  as  low  as 
possible  in  his  low  seat.  His  hands  and  arms  were 
under  the  table.  He  talked  freely,  encouraging  con- 
versation, and  seeming  uneasy  when  it  flagged.  After 
a  few  preliminary  raps  somebody  exclaimed  that  the 
*spirit-hand'  had  appeared,  and  the  next  moment  an 
object  resembling  a  child's  hand,  with  a  long,  wide 
sleeve  attached  to  it,  appeared  before  the  light.  This 
occurred  several  times.  The  object  appeared  mainly 
at  one  or  other  of  two  separate  distances  from  the 
medium.  One  of  these  distances  was  just  that  of  his 
foot,  the  other  that  of  his  outstretched  hand;  and  when 
the  object  receded  or  approached,  I  noticed  that  the 
mediimi's  body  or  shoulder  sank  or  rose  in  the  chair 

"^  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  May  1903,  pp.  77-78. 


136  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

accordingly.  This  was  pretty  conclusive  to  myself  and 
the  friend  who  accompanied  me;  hut  afterwards,  upon 
the  invitation  of  one  of  the  dupes  present,  the  'spirit- 
hand'  rose  so  high  that  we  saw  the  whole  connection  be- 
tween the  medium's  shoulder  and  arm,  and  the  'spirit- 
hand'  dressed  out  on  the  end  of  his  own." 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  interesting  to  note  that 
Robert  Browning  was  convinced  "that  the  whole  display 
of  hands,  spirit  utterances,  etc.,  was  a  cheat  and  im- 
posture." ^ 

We  shall  now  return  to  Sir  William  Crookes  and  the 
scientific  investigation  of  Home's  phenomena. 

The  experiment  with  the  accordion  was  considered 
by  Sir  William  and  his  assistants  as  a  crucial  test."  It 
is  evident  that  Home  could  not  have  played  the  ac- 
cordion under  the  circumstances.  On  the  other  hand 
the  alleged  phenomenon  is  so  extraordinary  that  we 
can  not  accept  its  genuineness  unless  all  possibilities  of 
prestidigitation  or  other  forms  of  trickery  can  be  elimi- 
nated.   This,  we  think,  cannot  be  done. 

AVe  may  well  suppose  that  Home  did  not  come  un- 
prepared ;  rather  he  must  have  known  what  kind  of  phe- 
nomena were  expected,  for  Sir  William  states  that  the 
experiments  in  his  home  were  held  for  the  purpose  of 
testing  certain  phenomena  which  had  occurred  under 
Home's  influence.  Sir  William  had  witnessed  them 
"some  half  dozen  times"  before.^ 


^  Times    (London),  Nov.   28,   1902. 

°  "Mr.  Home  still  holding  the  accordion  in  the  usual  manner  (be- 
tween thumb  and  middle  finger  of  one  hand  at  the  opposite  end  to  the 
keys)  in  the  cage,  his  feet  being  held  by  those  next  to  him,  and  his  other 
hand  resting  on  the  table,  we  heard  distinct  end  separate  notes  sounded 
in  succession,  and  then  a  simple  air  was  played.  As  such  a  result  could 
only  have  been  produced  by  the  various  keys  of  the  instrument  being 
acted  upon  in  harmonious  succession,  this  was  considered  by  those  pres- 
ent to  be  a  crucial  experiment.  But  the  sequel  was  still  more  striking, 
for  Mr.  Home  then  removed  his  hand  altogether  from  the  accordion,  tak- 
ing it  quite  out  of  the  cage,  and  placed  it  in  the  hand  of  a  person  next 
to  him.  The  instrument  then  continued  to  play,  no  person  touching  it 
and  no  hand  being  near  it." — "Researches,  etc.,"  p.   13. 

'Ibid.,  p.  10. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Pheno7nena  137 

Now,  the  music  consisted  of  a  few  sounds,  several 
notes  in  succession  and  a  simple  air.  What  could  have 
been  easier  for  Home  than  to  produce  this  quantity  of 
music  by  means  of  a  music-box  carried  concealed  on 
his  person?  The  most  natural  conclusion,  then,  is  that 
the  accordion  did  not  play  at  all,  and  that  the  experi- 
menters simply  took  for  granted  that  the  sounds  from 
the  concealed  music  box  issued  from  the  accordion. 
There  is  nothing  in  Sir  William's  account  to  suggest 
that  he  ascertained  the  exact  source  of  the  music. 

Sir  William  mentions  the  temperature  in  the  room 
but  makes  no  record  of  the  intensity  of  its  illumination. 
Yet,  the  value  of  visual  observation  would  have  been 
greatly  reduced  had  the  light  been  dim.  In  connection 
with  his  experiments  with  the  spring  balance  appa- 
ratus Sir  William  mentions  that  the  light  was  ample 
enough  to  show  all  that  took  place.^  We  do  not  know 
whether  this  statement  should  be  taken  to  include  the 
experiments  with  the  accordion.  But  even  with  the 
light  from  a  gas  jet,  the  space  under  the  table  where 
the  cage  was  placed  must  have  been  quite  dark.  Sir 
William's  assistant  crept  under  the  table  where  he  ob- 
served the  accordion  expanding  and  contracting  while 
Home's  hand,  which  was  holding  it,  remained  still. 
But  it  would  not  have  been  very  difficult  for  Home  to 
produce  these  movements  in  the  accordion  to  which  the 
air  had  access  b}^  the  base  key  being  open,"  and  oc- 
casional minute  jerks  of  his  hand,  which  was  concealed 
in  the  comparative  darkness  under  and  close  to  the  top 
of  the  table,  would  scarcely  have  been  detected.  Had 
a  lamp  been  placed  under  the  table  the  test  would  have 
carried  more  weight,  but  Sir  William  would  not  have 
failed  to  make  mention  of  such  precaution  if  it  had  been 
taken. 


'Researches,  etc.,"  p.  36. 
'Researches,  etc.,"  p.  12. 


138  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

A  small,  black  silk  cord  with  a  hook  would  have 
helped  Home  to  complete  the  marvel.  With  some  skill 
in  his  fingers  he  could  have  fastened  the  hook  in  the 
table  above  his  hand  and  suspended  the  accordion  from 
the  cord  which  would  not  have  been  visible  in  the  dark- 
ness under  the  table,  and  again  introducing  his  hand 
into  the  cage  to  remove  the  accordion  he  could  also 
have  removed  the  evidence  of  the  trick. 

The  music  box  and  the  cord  are  Mr.  Podmore's  sug- 
gestion for  an  explanation  of  the  phenomenon.^  Sir 
William  must  have  foreseen  criticism  of  this  kind,  for 
he  states-  that  on  the  afternoon  of  the  experiment  he 
called  for  Mr.  Home  in  his  apartment  and  was  present 
when  Home  changed  dress,  thus  being  able  "to  state 
positively  that  no  machinery,  apparatus,  or  contrivance 
of  any  sort  was  secreted  about  his  person."  But  what 
could  have  prevented  Home,  who  knew  what  kind  of 
phenomena  would  be  expected,  from  slipping  the  music 
box  and  cord  into  his  top-coat  pocket?  So  far  as  Sir 
William's  account  shows,  evidently  nothing. 

Next  we  come  to  the  experiments  with  the  spring 
balance.  Mr.  Podmore  thinks'^  that  the  weakness  in 
the  evidence  for  the  results  reported  consists  in  "that 
Home,  a  practised  conjurer,  as  the  past  record  of  him- 
self and  his  followers  entitles  us  to  assume,  dictated  the 
conditions  of  the  experiment,"  This  he  did  by  declin- 
ing to  allow  the  capricious  force  of  which  he  was  master 
to  operate  until  the  conditions  were  to  his  liking.  This 
is  confirmed  by  Sir  William's  statement:^  "The  ex- 
periments I  have  tried  have  been  very  numerous,  but 
owing  to  our  imperfect  knowledge  of  the  conditions 
which  favor  or  oppose  the  manifestations  of  this  force, 
to  the  apparently  capricious  manner  in  which  it  is  ex- 


^  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  p.  51. 

-  "Researches,  etc.,"  p.  11. 

'Op.  cit.,  pp.  52-53. 

*  "Researches,  etc.,'"  p.   110. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  139 

erted,  and  to  the  fact  that  Mr.  Home  himself  is  subject 
to  unaccountable  ebbs  and  flows  in  the  force,  it  has 
but  seldom  happened  that  a  result  obtained  on  one  oc- 
casion could  be  subsequently  confirmed  and  tested  with 
apparatus  specially  contrived  for  the  purpose."  ^ 

Mr.  Podmore's  inference  is  that  Home  employed  a 
device  such  as  "a  loop  of  black  silk,  which  would  be  in- 
visible in  the  obscurity,  passed  over  the  distal  end  of 
the  board  and  attached  at  the  other  end  to  some  part 
of  Home's  person."  ^  No  doubt,  this  might  have  been 
done  in  the  obscurity  by  a  person  skilled  in  the  art  of 
prestidigitation.  And  Mr.  Podmore  asserts  that  ob- 
scurity probably  was  one  of  the  necessary  conditions 
for  the  success  of  the  experiment,  basing  himself  on 
the  fact  that  at  a  certain  occasion  the  light  is  reported 
to  have  been  so  dim  as  scarcely  to  show  the  movement 
of  the  board  and  index. ^  This,  however,  was  not  al- 
ways the  case,  for  Sir  William  expressly  states — as  we 
have  already  mentioned — that  the  light  was  sufficient 
to  show  all  that  took  place. 

And  the  difficulty  increases  when  we  consider  the 
results  obtained  with  the  more  perfected  apparatus.^ 
The  first  experiment  was  made  with  a  non-professional 
female  medium  whose  both  hands  were  held  under  con- 
trol on  the  board  of  the  apparatus  while  "percussive 
noises  were  heard  on  the  parchment,  resembling  the 
dropping  of  grains  of  sand  on  its  surface." "  We  can 
not  here  adopt  the  explanation  that  the  medium  freed 
one  hand — in  the  manner  known  from  Eusapia's 
seances — for  the  light  was  sufficient  for  Sir  William 
to  see  a  fragment  of  graphite  on  the  membrane  being 
projected  about  1-oOth  of  an  inch  simultaneously  with 

^  "Researches,    etc." 

-Op.  cit.,  p.  64. 

^Podmore,  Op.  cit.,  p.  53,  and  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vi:110. 

*  See  p.  56. 

^  Researches,  etc.,  p.  39. 


140  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

the  occurrence  of  the  percussions.  It  should  be  noted 
that  the  medium  came  fully  ignorant  of  the  nature  of 
the  experiments/ 

Similar  results  were  obtained  with  Home  when  hold- 
ing his  one  hand  above  the  membrane  and  about  ten 
inches  from  the  surface,  the  other  being  by  a  controller. 
The  movements  of  the  lever  were,  however,  much 
slower  and  not  accompanied  by  the  percussive  vibra- 
tions previously  noticed.  If  the  light  had  been  dim. 
Home  would  have  been  able  easily  to  perform  his  task 
with  the  help  of  a  black  silk  cord  with  a  small  weight 
suspended  from  his  hand  above  the  membrane.  But 
there  is  no  information  regarding  the  light,  and  the  ex- 
periment succeeded  when  Home  was  two  to  three  feet 
away  from  the  apparatus.  This,  however,  did  not  take 
place  until  he  had  had  time  to  study  the  experiment 
and  to  procure  suitable  apparatus  for  its  success.  We 
must  admit  the  great  difficulty  in  detecting  the  methods 
of  skilled  prestidigitators,  and  the  value  of  the  evidence 
is  much  lessened  by  the  fact  that  at  this  stage  of  experi- 
mentation Sir  William  was  quite  convinced  that  he  had 
discovered  a  new  force  the  manifestation  of  which  he 
was  witnessing. 

While  nevertheless  fraud  might  have  been  excluded 
by  sufficient  precautions.  Sir  William's  account  does 
not  bear  out  the  actuality  thereof,  and  the  evidence  we 
now  possess  must  consequently  be  considered  incon- 
clusive. 

Home's  levitations  show  but  one  remarkable  ex- 
ample— his  reported  floating  in  the  air  outside  the 
house.  But  the  evidence  for  this  phenomenon  is  very 
faulty.  First  of  all.  Lord  Lindsay  was  sitting  with  his 
back  to  the  window  through  which  Home  is  alleged  to 
have  floated  into  the  room,  and  he  judged  only  from 
the  shadow  of  Home  which  presented  itself  upon  the 


'  Researches,  etc.,  p.  39. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  141 

opposite  wall.  Having  been  warned  by  a  whispering 
voice  that  Home  was  to  float  out  through  the  window 
in  the  opposite  room  and  in  the  same  manner  enter  the 
room  where  he  was  sitting,  his  Lordship  heard  the  first 
window  open,  saw  the  shadow  on  the  wall,  heard  the 
second  window  open  in  its  turn,  and  then  found  Home 
near  it  in  the  room.  The  rest  was  made  up  in  his 
imagination.^  After  all,  the  testimony  of  one  who 
examines  the  phenomena  by  turning  his  back  upon  them 
and  looking  at  their  shadow  does  not  carry  inconvenient 
weight.  And  he  was  already — previous  to  this  inci- 
dent— convinced  of  Home's  power  to  levitate  himself. 
Lord  Adare  testifies  to  having  heard  the  windows 
raised  and  that  Home  appeared  outside  the  window. 
But  he  did  not  see  Home  appear  outside  the  window, 
he  simply  tells  what  he  heard  Lord  Lindsay  describe. 
Captain  Wynne,  the  third  witness,  says  he  can  swear 
to  the  fact.  But  there  is  no  statement  to  show  that 
either  of  the  three  gentlemen  had  seen  Home  floating 
outside  the  windows.  Mr.  Podmore  thinks  that  Home, 
having  prepared  the  minds  of  the  witnesses  for  the  mar- 
vel which  was  to  take  place,  noisily  opened  the  window 
in  the  adjoining  room,  slipped  back  to  the  seance-room 
under  cover  of  the  darkness,  got  behind  the  curtains, 
opened  the  windows,  and  stepped  on  to  the  window 

^  This  report  to  the  Sub-Committee  of  the  Dialectical  Society 
(Dialectical  Report,  p.  214)  reads:  "I  saw  the  levitations  in  Victoria 
Street  when  Home  floated  out  of  the  window.  He  first  went  into  a 
trance,  and  walked  about  uneasily;  he  then  went  into  the  hall.  While 
he  was  away  I  heard  a  voice  whisper  in  my  ear,  'He  will  go  out  of  one 
window  and  in  at  another.'  I  was  alarmed  and  shocked  at  the  idea  of  sa 
dangerous  an  experiment.  I  told  the  company  what  I  had  heard,  and 
we  then  waited  for  Home's  return.  Shortly  after  he  entered  the  room  I 
heard  the  window  go  up,  but  I  could  not  see,  for  I  sat  with  my  back  to 
it.  I,  however,  saw  his  shadow  on  the  opposite  wall;  he  went  out  of  the 
window  in  a  horizontal  position,  and  I  saw  him  outside  the  other  window 
(that  in  the  next  room)  floating  in  the  air.  It  was  eighty-five  feet  from 
the  ground." 

Two  years  later  Lord  Lindsay  wrote  from  memory  an  account  which 
is  given  in  Chapter  11. 


142  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

ledge/  At  least,  there  is  nothing  to  show  that  the  feat 
was  not  accomplished  in  this  or  a  similar  manner. 

Home  also  exhibited  less  exciting  levitations,  mostly 
in  complete  darkness,  but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  either 
the  evidence  of  touch  alone  is  given  or,  when  the  phe- 
nomenon was  produced  in  a  dim  light,  Home's  body 
was  only  partially  seen.  Under  such  circumstances  it 
would  not  have  been  difficult  for  him  artificially  to  pro- 
duce the  impression  that  he  was  floating. 

Mr.  Podmore  dismisses  the  evidence  for  Home's 
elongation  as  insufficient  and  unreliable.^  Lord  Lind- 
say's account  of  the  phenomena  he  had  witnessed  was 
written  some  time  after  their  alleged  occurrence  and 
Lord  Adare's  contemporary  notes  are  too  meagre  to 
elucidate  the  phenomenon.  It  seems  difficult  to  find  an 
account  which  would  convince  us  that  the  medium's 
heels  did  not  leave  the  ground  at  the  moment  when  the 
elongation  took  place.  It  is  obvious  that  lacking  this 
point  any  evidence  becomes  inconclusive. 

Finally  there  is  the  so-called  fire-test.  Mr.  Podmore 
quotes  some  cases  which  he  thinks  could  without  diffi- 
culty be  ascribed  to  the  art  of  the  conjurer.  Now, 
several  methods  are  known  whereby  the  phenomenon 
may  be  staged,  one  consisting  in  preparing  the  part  of 
the  skin  which  is  to  touch  the  coal  with  chemical  sub- 
stances such  as  alum  or  sulphuric  acid,  or,  if  the  heated 
object  is  to  be  placed  on  the  tongue,  to  cover  this  organ 
with  a  layer  of  powdered  sugar,  which  in  its  turn  is  then 
covered  with  soap.  Another  method  is  found  in  sub- 
stituting for  the  coal  a  piece  of  platinum-sponge  the 
upper  part  of  which,  as  held  in  the  hand,  is  made  to 
glow  liy  application  of  hydrogen  or  alcohol. 

It  must  be  taken  for  granted  that  none  of  these 
methods  could  have  been  used  by  Home.  First  of  all, 
it  was  often  the  sitters  who  had  to  undergo  the  test, 

^"The  'Newer  Spiritualism"  pp.  71-72. 
=  Ibid.,  pp.  72-76. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  143 

which  fact  excludes  previous  preparation  of  the  skin. 
And  should  we  not  give  Sir  William — a  physicist  and 
chemist — credit  for  being  able  to  distinguish  between 
charcoal  and  a  piece  of  platinum  sponge? 

The  evidence  at  hand,  to  our  mind,  shows  cases  quite 
beyond  the  possibilities  of  prestidigitation,  and  Podmore 
admits  this  of  certain  cases  "if  accurately  recorded."^ 
The  handkerchief  incident,"  of  course,  is  rather  sus- 
picious, for  Home  could  have  used  two  handkerchiefs, 
substituting  a  previously  prepared  one  for  the  handker- 
chief he  showed  the  sitters.  But  it  is  difficult  to  con- 
tradict Lord  Lindsay's  evidence  before  the  Committee 
of  the  Dialectical  Society  and  the  last  instance  described 
by  Sir  William  Crookes,  unless  we  appeal  to  collective 
hallucination.^ 

For  the  present  we  shall  not  enter  upon  a  discussion 
of  the  theory  of  collective  hallucination.  Granting  that 
Home's  fire-test  had  an  objective  reality  such  as  pre- 
sented in  the  accounts  which  we  have  quoted,  there  is 


'  "The  Neicer  Spiritualism,"  p.   80. 

'  See  p.  68. 

^  Lord  Lindsay's  report  on  the  "fire-test"  reads  as  follows  {Dialectical 
Report,  pp.  208-209)  :  "I  have  frequently  seen  Home,  when  in  trance, 
go  to  the  fire  and  take  out  large  red-hot  coals,  and  carry  them  about  in 
his  hands,  put  them  inside  his  shirt,  etc.  Eight  times  I  myself  have  held 
a  red-hot  coal  in  my  hands  without  injury,  when  it  scorched  my  face  on 
raising  my  hand.  Once  I  wished  to  see  if  they  really  would  burn,  and  I 
said  so,  and  touched  a  coal  with  the  middle  finger  of  my  right  hand,  and 
I  got  a  blister  as  large  as  a  sixpence;  I  instantly  asked  him  to  give  me 
the  coal,  and  I  held  the  part  that  burnt  me,  in  the  middle  of  my  hand, 
for  three  or  four  minutes,  without  the  least  inconvenience." 

"A  few  weeks  ago  I  was  at  a  seance  with  eight  others.  Of  these,  seven 
held  a  red-hot  coal  without  pain,  and  the  two  others  could  not  bear  the 
approach  of  it;  of  the  seven,  four  were  ladies." 

Sir  William  Crookes'  report  on  the  fire-test  in  Proceedings,  »S'.  P.  R., 
vi:10.3:  "Mr.  Home  again  went  to  the  fire,  and,  after  stirring  the  hot 
coals  about  with  his  hand,  took  out  a  red-hot  piece  nearly  as  big  as  an 
orange,  and,  putting  it  on  his  right  hand,  covered  it  over  with  his  left 
hand  so  as  to  almost  completely  enclose  it,  and  then  blew  into  the  small 
furnace  thus  extemporized  until  the  lump  of  charcoal  was  nearly  white- 
hot,  and  then  drew  my  attention  to  the  lambent  flame  which  was  flicker- 
ing over  the  coal  and  licking  round  his  fingers;  he  fell  on  his  knees,  looked 
up  in  a  reverent  manner,  held  up  the  coal  in  front,  and  said:  'Is  not 
God  good?     Are  not  His  laws  wonderful?'" 


144  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

nothing  unique  in  this  phenomenon,  for  occurrences  of 
similar  nature  have  been  recorded  from  various  parts 
of  the  world  and  quite  apart  from  Spiritism.  We  refer 
to  the  so-called  fire-walk  which  has  been  and  still  is  in 
vogue  in  many  countries  and  of  which  Andrew  Lang 
gives  an  account  in  the  Proceedings  of  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research.^  We  mention  the  following  in- 
stances : 

Colonel  Gudgeon,  three  other  Europeans  and  two 
hundred  Maoris  walked  with  bare  feet  across  the  hot 
stones  of  an  oven  twelve  feet  in  diameter  prepared  for 
that  purpose  by  the  natives  of  Rarotonga,  Polynesia, 
and  neither  he  nor  two  of  his  European  friends  suffered 
the  slightest  injury.  The  fourth  in  the  party  was  badly 
burned  because  he  disobeyed  the  rules  and  turned  round. 
It  is  certain  that  no  chemical  preparation  was  applied 
to  the  Europeans  at  least.  To  show  the  state  of  heat 
of  the  stones  the  priest,  who  conducted  the  ceremony, 
and  who  handed  over  to  the  fire-walkers  the  mana  or 
power  over  the  fire,  half  an  hour  afterwards  threw  on 
them  a  green  branch  which  in  a  quarter  of  a  minute  was 
blazing.     The  incident  occurred  in  1899." 

Similar  ceremonies  are  customary  among  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  Fiji  Islands,  and  Dr.  Hocken,  who  witnessed 
one  of  them,  gives  the  following  account  thereof.^ 
Seven  or  eight  Fiji  natives  belonging  to  a  clan  which 
possesses  the  power  to  execute  the  "vilavilairevo"  or 
fire  ceremony  walked  across  and  around  a  stone  oven 
twelve  to  fifteen  feet  in  diameter  in  which  a  fire  had 
been  burning  for  thirty-six  or  forty-eight  hours,  the 
leader  remaining  within  for  about  one-half  minute. 
Immediately  after  he  had  entered  leaves  of  the  hibiscus 
were   thrown   into   the   oven   which   they   immediately 

^Vol.  XV:  2- 15. 

=  "Te  Umer-Ti,  or  Fire  Walking  Ceremony,"  by  Col.  Gudgeon,  British 
President,  Rarotonga,  quoted  by  Andrew  Lang,  in  Op.  cit.,  pp.  4-6. 

'"An  account  of  the  Fiji"  Fire  Ceremony,"  by  Dr.  T.  M.  Hocken, 
F.  L.  S.,  quoted  by  Andrew  Lang,  in  Op.  cit.,  pp.  6-11. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  145 

filled  with  clouds  of  hissing  steam.  Dr.  Hocken  caused 
a  thermometer  to  be  suspended  five  feet  and  six  inches 
above  the  center  of  the  hot  stones,  but  after  a  few 
moments  it  had  to  be  withdrawn  to  escape  destruction 
by  the  heat  and  it  was  then  found  to  register  282°  Fahr. 
He  also  examined  two  of  the  natives  immediately  be- 
fore and  after  their  performances,  testing  the  skin  of 
their  feet  even  with  his  tongue,  but  he  neither  found 
traces  of  preparation  nor  injuries  from  the  fire.  The 
power  is  considered  hereditary. 

A  fire  walk  in  Tokio  was  witnessed  in  1899  by  Colonel 
Andrew  Haggard,  who  tells  us^  that  the  performers 
after  an  ablution  in  cold  water  walked  through  a  fire 
of  red-hot  charcoal,  six  yards  long  by  six  feet  wide. 
When  afterwards  examining  their  feet  he  found  them 
quite  soft  and  without  a  trace  of  the  effects  of  fire. 

Mr.  Stokes  -  saw  thirteen  persons  during  a  ceremony 
in  India  walking  unhurt  through  a  fire  twenty-seven 
feet  long,  seven  and  a  half  feet  broad  and  a  span  deep, 
while  a  boy  who  fell  in  the  same  fire  was  burnt  to  death. 
Referring  to  fire-walks  in  India  Dr.  Oppert"  states 
that  "the  heat  is  unbearable  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
ditch"  in  which  it  is  built,  but  the  walkers  "as  a  rule  do 
not  do  themselves  much  harm." 

In  the  Straits  Settlements,  Province  of  Wellesley, 
six  coolies  prepared  by  a  "devil-doctor"  were  observed 
walking  the  full  length  of  a  trench  twenty  feet  long, 
six  feet  wide,  and  two  feet  deep,  on  a  bed  of  red-hot 
coal  from  a  pyre  of  wood  four  or  five  feet  high,  which 
had  been  burning  four  hours.  They  then  walked  into 
water.  None  of  them  showed  the  slightest  sign  of  in- 
jury, although  later  one  who  fell  was  terribly  burned.^ 

^Col.  Andrew  Haggard  in  The  Field,  May  20,  1899,  p.  724,  quoted  by 
Andrew  Lang  in  Op.  cit.,  p.  11. 

"In  "The  Indian  Antiquary,"  vol.  II,  p.  190,  quoted  by  Andrew  Lang, 
in  Op.  cit.,  p.  12. 

'"Original  Inhabitants  of  India,"  p.  480,  quoted  by  Andrew  Lang  in 
Op.  cit.,  p.  12. 

*0p.  cit.,  pp.  12-13. 


14G  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

Other  cases  are  recorded  from  the  Fiji  Islands, 
Benares,  Trinidad,  Spain  and  Bulgaria.^ 

It  should  be  mentioned  that  photographs  were  taken 
during  some  of  those  performances  and  Mr.  Lang's 
article  especially  refers  to  one  taken  by  Lieutenant 
Morne  of  the  French  Navy  and  published  in  the  Poly- 
nesian Journal/  and  to  another  in  the  possession  of  Mr. 
Basil  Thompson  of  New  York. 

Mr.  Lang  comes  to  the  following  conclusion:^  "For 
my  part  I  remain  without  a  theory,  like  all  European 
observers  whom  I  have  quoted.  But  in  my  humble 
opinion,  all  the  usual  theories,  whether  of  collective 
hallucinations  (photographic  cameras  being  hulluci- 
nated),  of  psychical  causes,  of  chemical  application, 
of  leathery  skin  on  the  soles  of  the  feet,  and  so  on,  are 
inadequate." 

If  Spiritism  is  the  solution  let  the  mediums  try  it! 
In  the  meantime  Home's  case  remains  unexplained. 

It  would  be  impossible  within  the  scope  of  this 
treatise  to  attempt  a  criticism  of  the  Palladino  phe- 
nomena. No  medium  has  been  more  thoroughly  ex- 
amined and  the  accounts  of  over  twenty  years  of  in- 
vestigation by  men  of  high  ability  are  sufficient  in  them- 
selves to  fill  numerous  volumes.  We  have  the  records 
from  over  twenty  series  of  investigations  by  scientific 
bodies,  and  also  a  vast  literature  containing  com- 
mentary on  and  criticism  of  these  records,  accessible 
to  all  who  are  interested  in  the  matter;  but  for  the 
reasons  stated  we  shall  not  enter  into  the  subject  fur- 
ther than  to  indicate  the  main  steps  in  the  investiga- 
tion of  Eusapia  as  a  whole  and  to  state  the  conclusions 
to  which  a  study  of  her  case  has  brought  us. 

'For  Historical  cases  see:     .^neid,  VII,  800;   XI,  784  et  seq. ;   Pliny, 
Bist.  Nat.,  VII,  2;   Silius  Italicus,  V,  175. 
=  Vol.  II,  No.  2,  p.   105. 
'  Op.  cit.,  p.  14. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  147 

The  investigations  fall  into  three  main  periods,  each 
forming  a  more  or  less  logical  and  independent  series 
conducted  under  the  supervision  of  partly  different 
groups  of  investigators,  the  first  beginning  with  the 
labors  of  the  Milan  Commission  in  1892^  and  ending 
with  the  Cambridge  sittings  in  1895,  the  second  includ- 
ing a  number  of  experiments  chiefly  by  French  and 
Italian  savants,  and  the  third  and  last  conducted  })y 
members  of  the  English  Society  for  Psychical  Research 
and  including  sittings  in  New  York  before  representa- 
tives of  the  American  public. 


Professor  Lombroso's  experiments  with  Eusapia  in 
Naples,  which  led  him  to  accept  her  phenomena  as 
genuine,  had  opened  the  eyes  of  scientific  men  to  the 
seriousness  of  the  problem  which  her  case  offered,  and 
as  a  result  a  body  of  illustrious  savants,  including  Pro- 
fessors Schiaparelli,  Director  of  the  Observatory  of 
Milan,  and  Gerosa,  the  physicist,  Dr.  Ermacora,  M. 
Aksakov,  Councillor  to  His  Majesty  of  Russia,  Dr. 
Charles  du  Prel  of  Munich,  Professors  Charles  Richet 
of  the  Sorbonne,  and  Buffern,  and  M.  Finzi,  met  in 
October,  1892,  in  the  latter's  home  in  Milan  for  the 
purpose  of  examining  Eusapia's  phenomena."  The  in- 
vestigation covered  seventeen  sittings  at  which  were 
observed  phenomena  such  as  telekinesis,  once  in  full 
light,  table  movement  without  contact,  apport  with 
the  hands  of  the  medium  tied  loosely  to  those  of  her 
controllers,  impressions  of  fingers  on  smoked  paper, 
levitation  of  the  medium,  apparitions  and  touchings  of 

^  Various  experiments  preceded  and  led  up  to  those  of  the  Milan 
Commission,  notably  those  of  Chiaia  in  1888  and  Lombroso  and  others  in 
1891. 

^Proceedings,  »S'.  P.  R.,  ix: 21 8-225;  Annales  des  (Sciences  Psychiques, 
Jan. -Feb.  1893;  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  pp.  1.51-161; 
Carrington,  "Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  pp.  29-34;  Podmore, 
"The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  pp.   89-93. 


148  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

hands,  contact  with  human  faces,  but  the  most  striking 
and  best  observed  phenomena  were  those  of  levitation 
of  the  table  and  alteration  of  the  medium's  weight,  both 
occurring  in  full  light.  The  report  of  the  sittings  con- 
tains a  declaration  signed  by  all  the  sitters  with  ex- 
ception of  Prof.  Richet,  and  stating  that  while  the 
results  did  not  always  come  up  to  their  expectations, 
and  while  in  the  greater  number  of  cases  it  had  been 
impossible  to  apply  the  rules  of  experimental  science 
regarded  as  indispensable  for  obtaining  certain  and  in- 
contestable results  in  other  fields  of  observation,  they 
did  not  feel  justified  to  assert  that  the  whole  perform- 
ance had  been  fraudulent,  although  this  might  ulti- 
mately prove  to  be  the  simplest  explanation.^  Richet 
comes  to  the  conclusion  that  although  the  phenomena 
were  absurd  and  unsatisfactory,  it  seems  difficult  to 
attribute  them  to  conscious  or  unconscious  fraud  or  to 
a  series  of  deception;  nevertheless,  conclusive  proof 
that  there  was  no  fraud  on  Eusapia's  part,  or  illusion 
on  the  part  of  the  observers,  is  wanting. 


We  shall  not  tarry  over  the  less  striking  phenomena 
which  almost  all  occurred  in  darkness.  But  a  few 
words  might  be  said  about  the  alteration  of  the 
medium's  weight  and  the  table  levitations,  because  these 

^  We  quote  from  Flammarion's  "Mysterious  Psychic  Fo7'ces,"  which 
gives  a  reproduction  of  the  report — pp.  151-152.  The  signed  declaration 
reads  as  follows:  "The  results  obtained  did  not  always  come  up  to  our 
expectations.  Not  that  we  did  not  secure  a  large  number  of  facts  ap- 
parently or  really  important  and  marvellous;  but,  in  the  greater  num- 
ber of  cases  we  were  not  able  to  apply  the  rules  of  experimental  science 
which,  in  other  fields  of  observation,  are  regarded  as  indispensable  in 
order  to  arrive  at  certain  and  incontestable  results.  The  most  important 
of  those  rules  consists  in  changing,  one  after  the  other,  the  methods  of 
experiment,  in  such  a  way  as  to  bring  out  the  true  cause,  or  at  least  the 
true  conditions  of  all  thie  events.  Now  it  is  precisely  from  this  point 
of  view  that  our  experiments  seem  to  us  still   incomplete." 

"It  is  very  true  that  the  medium,  to  prove  her  good  faith,  often 
voluntarily  proposed  to  change  some  feature  of  some  or  the  other  ex- 
periment, and  frequently  herself  took  the  initiative  in  these  changes.  But 
this  applied  only  to  things  that  were  apparently  indifferent,  according 
to  our  way  of  seeing.     On  the  contrary,  the  changes  v/hich  seemed  to  us 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  149 

phenomena  were  ranked  as  carrying  superior  evidence, 
particularly  because  of  having  been  observed  in  good 
light.  Richet  has  appended  photographs  of  the  levita- 
tions  to  his  report  in  the  Annates.^ 

The  first  experiment  with  the  medium's  weight 
registered  a  change  of  seventeen  and  a  half  pounds,  but 
the  apparatus  employed  was  not  a  very  suitable  one 
and  no  conclusion  was  reached.  A  better  instrument 
was  then  devised  consisting  of  a  platform  suspended 
by  the  four  corners  and  attached  to  a  lever  which  would 
register  the  weight  automatically.  A  change  in  position 
of  an  object  on  the  platform  would  not  affect  the 
registration. 

While  Eusapia  was  resting  on  the  platform  certain 
slight  upward  movements  were  observed,  lasting  not 
more  than  twenty  seconds.  But  it  should  be  noted  that 
although  Richet  and  Schiaparelli  assert  that  she 
touched  neither  floor  nor  table,  her  dress  was  in  con- 
tact with  the  floor,  and  that  no  results  were  obtained 
when  such  contact  was  prevented,  and,  furthermore, 
that  the  observers  were  not  certain  that  the  registration 
of  change  in  weight  did  not  take  place  at  the  very 
moment  when  Eusapia  took  hold  of  the  hand  of  one  of 
their  number.  In  the  presence  of  such  conditions  there 
is   absolutely  no  evidence   to   show  that  the  recorded 

necessary  to  put  the  true  character  of  the  results  beyond  doubt,  either 
were  not  accepted  as  possible  or  ended  in  uncertain  results. 

"We  do  not  believe  we  have  the  right  to  explain  these  things  by  the 
aid  of  insulting  assumptions,  which  many  still  find  to  be  the  simplest 
explanation,  and  of  which  some  journals  have  made  themselves  champions. 
We  think,  on  the  contrary,  that  those  experiments  are  concerned  with 
phenomena  of  an  unknown  nature,  and  we  confess  that  we  do  not  know 
what  the  conditions  are  that  are  required  to  produce  them.  To  desire 
to  fix  these  conditions  in  our  own  right  and  out  of  our  own  head  would 
be  as  extravagant  as  to  presume  to  make  the  experiment  of  Tonicelli's 
barometer  with  a  tube  closed  at  the  bottom,  or  to  make  electrostatic  ex- 
periments in  an  atmosphere  saturated  with  humidity,  or  to  take  a  photo- 
graph by  exposing  the  sensitive  plate  in  full  light  before  placing  it  in 
the  camera.  However,  it  is  a  fact  that  the  impossibility  of  varying  the 
experiments  in  our  own  way  has  diminished  the  worth  and  the  interest 
of  the  results  obtained,  by  depriving  them  of  that  rigorous  demonstration 
which  we  are  right  in  demanding  in  cases  of  this  kind,  or,  rather,  to 
which  we  ought  to  aspire." 

^  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,   1893. 


150  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

change  was  not  fraudulently  produced  by  the  medium. 
There  were  both  partial  and  complete  levitations  of 
the  table  and  a  special  apparatus  was  employed  to 
register  the  pressure  brought  to  bear  on  it,  upward 
when  Eusapia's  hands  were  held  on  the  table,  down- 
ward when  under  the  table.  About  seven  pounds  pres- 
sure in  either  direction  was  registered  during  partial 
levitations,  the  end  of  the  table,  where  the  medium  was 
sitting,  suffering  the  pressure.  The  hand  control  seems 
to  have  been  quite  effective.  The  report  says:^  "In 
all  the  experiments  which  precede,  we  gave  our  atten- 
tion principally  to  a  careful  inspection  of  the  position 
of  the  hands  and  feet  of  the  medium;  and,  in  this 
respect,  we  believe  we  can  say  that  they  were  safe  from 
all  criticism.  Still,  a  scruj^ulous  sincerity  compels  us 
to  mention  the  fact  to  which  we  did  not  begin  to  call 
attention  before  the  evening  of  October  5th,  but  which 
probably  must  have  occurred  also  in  the  preceding  ex- 
periments. It  consists  in  this,  that  the  four  feet  of  the 
table  could  not  be  considered  as  perfectly  isolated  dur- 
ing the  levitation,  because  one  of  them  at  least  was  in 
contact  with  the  lower  edge  of  the  medium's  dress." 
....  "One  of  us  having  been  charged  with  the  duty 
of  hindering  this  contact,  the  table  was  unable  to  rise 
as  before,  and  it  only  did  rise  when  the  observer  in- 
tentionally permitted  the  contact  to  take  place."  The 
reporter  then  asks:  "Now,  in  what  way  is  it  possible 
for  the  contact  of  a  light  dress-stuff  with  the  lower  ex- 
tremity of  the  foot  of  a  table  to  assist  in  the  levitation?" 
Well,  we  shall  see! 


Professor  Richet  wishing  to  continue  the  experi- 
ments with  Eusapia  with  a  view  to  obtaining  evidence 
of  a  more  satisfactory  character  invited  some  distin- 
guished men  to  investigate  her  mediumship  in  his  home 
on  the  lie  de  Rouhaud.     His  invitation  was  accepted 

^  See  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  p.    155. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  151 

by  Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  and  Dr. 
Ochorowicz,  and  by  Professor  and  Mrs.  Henry  Sidg- 
wick  and  Sir  William  Crookes,  which  latter  arrived  for 
the  later  part  of  the  sittings.  The  experiments  which  be- 
gan in  July,  1894,  were  after  some  time  transferred  from 
the  island  to  Carquieranne.^ 

Four  sittings  were  held  and  the  usual  phenomena 
were  exhibited,  including  raps,  tilts  and  levitations  of 
the  table  in  full  light,  telekinetic  phenomena  of  a  cer- 
tain variety,  playing  of  musical  instruments,  touches, 
faces,  and  so  forth,  the  most  remarkable  ones  consist- 
ing in  the  winding  of  a  music  box,  which  then  began  to 
play  and  finally  was  torn  from  the  string  by  which  it 
was  suspended,  and  in  the  turning  of  a  key  in  a  door 
seven  feet  from  the  medium,  which  key  subsequently 
was  brought  to  the  table  and  again  replaced  in  the  key- 
hole. 

Richet,  Lodge  and  Myers  were  convinced  that  some 
of  the  phenomena  they  had  witnessed  were  due  to  super- 
natural causes  and  also  Sir  William  Crookes  seems  to 
accept  this  conclusion;  the  Sidgwicks  were  impressed 
but  not  convinced.  In  his  report,  however.  Lodge  offers 
no  explanation  but  asserts  that  his  conviction  is  mainly 
based  on  his  observation  of  telekinetic  phenomena  in 
sufficient  light  to  see  the  objects  move,  those  being  the 
simplest  and  most  definite.  And  he  argues  that  if  the 
genuineness  of  some  of  the  phenomena,  which  would 
seem  impossible,  is  established,  the  rest  will  be  the  more 
easily  accepted." 

^  See  Oliver  Lodge's  report  on  the  sittings  in  Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  vi:306- 
360;  Carrington,  ''Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  pp.  38-51; 
Podmore,  "T/ie  Newer  Spiritualism,"  pp.  93-97;  Hodgson's  criticism  in 
Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  vi:  36-55;  Reply  to  Hodgson  by  Myers,  Lodge,  Richet 
and   Ochorowicz,   Ibid.,  vii:  55-79. 

-  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  conclusion  of  his  report  on  the  sitting,  in  Journal, 
S.  P.  R.,  vi:360:  "However  the  facts  are  to  be  explained,  the  possibility 
of  the  facts  I  am  constrained  to  admit.  There  is  no  further  room  in  my 
mind  for  doubt.  Any  person  without  invincible  prejudice  who  had  had 
the  same  experience,  would  have  come  to  the  same  broad  conclusion,  \iiz.  : 
That  things  hitherto  held  impossible  do  actually  occur.     If  one  such  fact 


152  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

The  report  was  sent  to  Dr.  Hodgson,  whose  long  ex- 
perience and  great  abihty  in  detecting  trickery  in 
mediiiniistic  performances  was  well  known,  and  in  a 
lengthy  reply  he  shows  that  the  phenomena  as  described 
could  all  have  been  performed  by  Eusapia  using  a 
special  method  of  freeing  one  hand  or  foot.^  Hodgson's 
criticism  did  not  disturb  the  conviction  of  either  Richet 
or  Lodge,  but  Myers  could  not  deny  feeling  the  weight 
of  his  argument. ■  The  discussion  continued  and  re- 
sulted in  Hodgson's  acceptance  of  an  invitation  to  come 
and  witness  Eusapia's  phenomena. 


Dr.  Hodgson,  who  then  was  secretary  for  the  Amer- 
ican Society  for  Psychical  Research,  came  to  England 
in  1895,  and  sittings  with  Eusapia  were  arranged  in 
Mr.  Myers'  home  in  Cambridge."  The  seances  which 
were  held  in  a  series  during  the  months  of  August  and 
September  were  attended,  besides  Hodgson  and  Mr. 

is  clearly  established,  the  conceivability  of  others  may  be  more  readily 
granted,  and  I  concentrated  my  attention  mainly  on  what  seemed  to  me 
the  most  simple  and  definite  thing,  viz.:  the  movement  of  an  untouched 
object,  in  sufficient  light  for  no  doubt  of  its  motion  to  exist.  This  I  have 
now  witnessed  several  times;  the  fact  of  movement  being  vouched  for  by 
both  siglit  and  hearing,  sometimes  also  by  touch,  and  the  objectivity  of 
the  phenomena  being  demonstrated  by  the  sounds  heard  by  an  outside 
observer,*  and  })y  permanent  alteration  of  position  of  object.  .  .  . 
The  effect  on  an  observer  is  usually  more  as  if  the  connecting  link,  if 
any  (between  object  and  living  organism  of  medium),  were  invisible  and 
intangible,  or  as  if  a  portion  of  vital  or  directing  energy  had  been  de- 
tached, and  were  producing  distant  movements  without  apparent  con- 
nection with  the  medium.  .  .  .  The  result  of  my  experience  is  to  con- 
vince me  that  certain  phenomena  usually  considered  abnormal  do  belong 
to  the  order  of  nature,  and,  as  a  corollary  to  this,  that  these  phenomena 
ought  to  be  investigated  and  recorded  by  persons  and  societies  interested 
in  natural  knowledge." 

"■Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  vii: 36-55. 

^For  their  replies  to  Hodgson  and  that  of  Ochorowicz,  see  Journal, 
8.  P.  R.,  vii: 55-79. 

^Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  vii:  131,  148;  Carrington,  "Eusapia  Pallidino  and 
Her  Phenomena,"  pp.  51-57;  Podmore,  "The  Newer  8piritualism,"  pp.  97- 
98;   Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  p.   168. 

*Dr.  Ochorowicz  from  the  outside  heard  the  key  which  later  was 
brought  to  the  table  turn  in  the  door. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  153 

and  Mrs.  flyers,  by  Mr.  Nevil  Maskelyne,  Miss  Alice 
Johnson,  and  Professor  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick. 

The  result  of  the  Cambridge  experiments  was  to  con- 
firm beyond  any  doubt  Dr.  Hodgson's  hypothesis,  for 
fraud  was  detected  again  and  again  in  actual  operation 
and  the  experimenters  unanimously  adopted  the  con- 
clusion that  they  had  witnessed  nothing  but  trickery. 

There  are  several  points  to  be  noted.  First  of  all 
the  tricks  were  found  to  be  effected  by  Eusapia  using 
one  hand  or  foot  which  she  succeeded  in  freeing  from 
the  control  employed.  Sometimes,  it  seems,  she  em- 
ployed her  head.  Mr.  Myers  states  that  the  experi- 
menters in  several  cases  at  first  sight  were  favorably 
impressed  with  the  phenomena,  and  only  by  making 
changes  in  the  conditions  were  able  to  ascertain  that 
fraud  was  practiced.  This  goes  to  show  what  undoubt- 
edly would  have  been  the  result  had  they  been  content 
with  mere  observation  and  not  insisted  upon  changing 
the  conditions.  It  also  shows  that  Eusapia  possessed 
great  skill  in  prestidigitation  which  could  have  been 
gained  only  by  years  of  systematic  tricker}".  Fraud 
was  attempted  even  when  the  tests  were  at  their  best, 
and,  Myers  states,  practiced  both  in  her  waking  state 
and  in  her  real  or  simulated  trance.^ 

The  Cambridge  exposure  led  the  Society  for 
Psychical  Research  to  drop  the  investigation  of 
Eusapia.  But  the  world  was  not  convinced.  Hardly 
had  the  news  of  the  exposures  been  published  before 
a  storm  of  discussions  broke  loose,  and  arguments  for 

^From  F.  W.  H.  Myers'  report  in  Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  vii:133:  "I  can 
not  doubt  that  we  observed  much  conscious  and  deliberate  fraud,  of  a 
kind  which  must  have  needed  long  practice  to  bring  it  to  its  present  level 
of  skill.  Nor  can  I  find  any  excuse  for  her  fraud  (assuming  that  such 
excuse  would  be  valid)  in  the  attitude  of  mind  of  the  persons,  several  of 
them  distinguished  in  the  world  of  science,  who  assisted  in  the  inquiry. 
Their  attitude  was  a  fair  and  open  one;  in  all  cases  they  showed  patience, 
and  in  several  cases  the  impression  first  made  on  their  minds  was  dis- 
tinctly favorable.  With  growing  experience,  however,  and  careful  ob- 
servation of  the  precise  conditions  permitted  or  refused  to  us,  the  existence 
of   some   fraud   became   clear;    and   fraud   was   attempted   when   the   tests 


154  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

and  against  Eusapia  made  their  appearance  ])oth  in 
the  Hterature  devoted  to  the  subject  and  in  the  EngUsh 
daily  press. 

Dr.  Maxwell  severely  criticized  the  results  of  the 
experiments  on  the  grounds  that  the  attitude  of  the 
investigators  tovt^ards  Eusapia  was  one  of  haughtiness 
and  disdain,  which  made  her  ill  at  ease  and  prevented  her 
from  making  use  of  her  mediumistic  powers.  He  adds 
that  the  unaccustomed  climate  coupled  with  the  undue 
length  of  the  sittings  exhausted  her.  She  was  physic- 
ally and  morally  unfit  for  the  task  imposed  upon  her.^ 

But  this  is  partly  in  contradiction  to  Myers'  state- 
ment,^ in  which  he  says  that  he  fails  to  find  an  excuse 
for  Eusapia's  fraud  in  the  attitude  of  mind  of  those 
present,  which  was  a  fair  and  open  one,  free  from  im- 
patience. Both  Myers  and  the  Sidgwicks  had  been 
sitting  with  Eusapia  before,  and  it  would  be  strange 
if  persons  of  their  insight  in  matters  psychological 
should  have  failed  to  correct  or  at  least  make  due  al- 
lowances for  so  adverse  conditions. 

Mr.  Carrington  has  no  difficulty  in  pointing  out  the 
exact  cause  of  Eusapia's  failure.  It  has  always  been 
well  known  that  she  would  resort  to  trickery  under  lax 
control,  and  the  lax  control  employed  at  Cambridge  in- 
duced her  to  practice  fraud  at  every  seance.^ 

were  as  good  as  we  were  allowed  to  make  them,  quite  as  indisputably  as 
on  the  few  occasions  when  our  holding  was  intentionally  left  inadequate 
in  order  to  trace  more  exactly  the  modus  operandi.  Moreover,  the  fraud 
occurred  both  in  the  medium's  waking  state  and  during  her  real  or 
alleged  trance. 

"I  do  not  think  there  is  adequate  reason  to  suppose  that  any  of  the 
phenomena  at  Cambridge  were  genuine." 

Professor  Sidgwick  in  Jonrval,  »S'.  /'.  7?.,  vii:231,  says:  "Inasmuch  as 
trickery  has  been  systematically  pi-actised,  apparently,  by  Eusapia 
Palladino  for  years,  I  propose  to  ignore  her  performances  in  the  future  as 
those  of  other  persons  engaged  in  the  same  mischievous  trade  are  to  be 
ignored." 

^  In  "Metaphysical  Phenomena,"  quoted  by  Carrington  in  "Eusapia 
Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  pp.  55-50. 

^See  p.   153,  note   1. 

'  "Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  p.  54 :  ".  .  .  there  is  a 
reason  for  the  fraud  that  Eusapia  resorted  to  at  Cambridge,  and  those 


Genii'me  and  Spurious  Pheno7rie7ia  155 

Of  course,  what  he  says  contradicts  Mr.  Myers' 
statement  that  the  control  was  good  except  on  a  few 
occasions  when  laxity  was  allowed.  And  she  attempted 
trickery  when  the  tests  were  as  good  as  they  could  be. 
Both  Mr.  Myers  and  the  Sidgwicks  were  present  at 
Richet's  sittings  with  Eusapia  in  1894  and  consequently 
knew  the  manner  of  control  employed  there.  Why 
should  they  now  be  satisfied  with  laxer  control?  And 
they  also  knew  that  Eusapia  would  resort  to  fraud  when 
the  control  was  not  sufficiently  strict.  Our  main  argu- 
ment against  the  critics  is  that  they  contradict  or  ignore 
the  facts  stated  in  the  report  on  the  experiments. 


Eusapia's  reverses  at  Cambridge  did  not  greatly 
shake  the  faith  of  her  continental  investigators  and  ad- 
mirers, nor  of  Sir  Oliver  Lodge.  Between  the  years 
1895  and  1907  no  less  than  twelve  different  series  of 
experiments  were  undertaken  by  different  savants  in 
France  and  Italy,  among  whom  appear  besides  the 
names  of  Lombroso,  Richet  and  Ochorowicz,  those  of 
Professor  Morselli,  Doctors  Foa  and  Herlitzka,  M. 
Bergson,  M.  and  Mme.  Curie,  Professor  Botazzi  and 
of  many  others.  The  Institute  Generale  Psychologique 
of  Paris  arranged  a  series  of  sittings  extending  over 
four  years  (1905-1908)  and  including  no  less  than 
forty-three  sittings.^ 

The  phenomena  during  this  period  showed  little  or 
no  variation  from  those  previously  presented.     In  the 


investigators  who  have  had  much  experience  with  her  had  no  difficulty 
in  pointing  out  exactly  what  the  cause  of  this  was.  It  has  always  been 
well  known  that  if  Eusapia  were  allowed  to  trick  her  sitters  she  would 
do  so,  and  the  policy  of  the  English  investigators  had  been,  not  to  endeavor 
to  prevent  phenomena  by  rigorous  control,  but  to  allow  great  laxity, 
to  permit  her  to  substitute  her  hands  when  slie  desired,  and  merely  note 
the  results.  Eusapia  finding  that  she  could  effect  substitution  of  hands 
with  ease,  and  apparently  without  detection,  naturally  resorted  to  this 
device  at  each  seance.     .     .     ." 

^  See  Carrington,  "Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phenomena,"  pp.  57-151. 


156  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

beginning  table-levitation,  telekinesis  and  apport 
mainly  filled  the  seances,  later  apparitions  and  partial 
materializations  came  into  prominence,  while  a  favored 
few  were  allowed  to  witness  more  complete  materializa- 
tions and  even  experience  the  more  personal  and  inti- 
mate phases  of  this  marvel. 

Taken  as  a  whole  the  new  investigations  do  not  in- 
spire much  confidence.  A  number  of  accounts  and  re- 
ports impresses  us  above  all  with  the  credulity  and 
apparently  uncritical  attitude  of  the  investigator.  The 
narrative  often  runs  off  in  the  wildest  romance,  the 
tables  and  objects  no  longer  being  moved  about  by  in- 
visible forces,  but  taking  life  they  execute  a  mad  panto- 
mime of  dancing,  speaking  and  laughing. 

The  most  interesting  feature  of  this  period  of  in- 
vestigation is  the  employment  of  physical  apparatus 
for  testing  the  genuineness  of  the  phenomena.  Pro- 
fessor Lombroso  aided  by  Dr.  Imoda  and  Dr.  Andenino 
held  sittings  in  Turin  in  1907^  at  which  a  "tambourine 
Marey"  was  placed  on  a  table  near  the  cabinet  and  con- 
nected with  rubber  tubes  with  a  cardiograph  in  the 
cabinet  and  a  Morse  apparatus  on  the  experiment  table. 
The  object  in  employing  this  apparatus  was  to  obtain 
on  the  smoked  surface  of  the  "tambourine"  a  dia- 
grammatic registration  of  pressure  exerted  by  the 
medium  on  the  Morse  key  and  at  the  same  time  that  of 
the  invisible  force  on  the  button  of  the  cardiograph  and 
to  ascertain  whether  the  two  impressions  would  be 
synchronic.  According  to  the  report  published  in  La 
Stampa  and  quoted  at  length  by  Carrington^  the  ap- 
paratus began  to  register  at  the  fourth  seance,  drawing 
a  diagram  corresponding  to  the  pressure  on  the  cardio- 
graph in  the  cabinet,  and  this  happened  while  the 
medium's  hands  were  in  the  hands  of  her  controllers. 
It  is  also  stated  that  the  distance  between  the  medium 


^"Eusapia  PaUadino  and  Her  Phenomena"  pp.  89-100;  see  particularly 
pp.  93  and  99-100. 


Genuine  arid  Spurious  Phenornena  157 

and  the  cabinet  was  such  that  it  would  have  been  im- 
possible for  her  to  reach  the  cardiograph.  The  experi- 
ment fully  convinced  the  reporter  that  the  instrument 
had  registered  an  unknown  force.  But  as  will  be  seen, 
the  report  as  it  stands  does  not  offer  adequate  evidence 
for  the  absence  of  fraud. ^ 

To  begin  with,  the  desired  double  registration  of 
synchronic  pressure,  partly  on  the  Morse  key  on  the 
seance  table,  partly  on  the  cardiograph  in  the  cabinet, 
failed  to  occur.  No  doubt,  to  effect  it  by  trickery  would 
have  been  no  easy  matter.  And  thus  we  are  deprived 
of  an  automatic  record  of  the  synchronism  between  the 
movements  of  the  medium's  hands  or  body  and  those 
of  objects  in  the  cabinet  so  frequently  observed  at 
Eusapia's  seances.  This  is  the  more  lamentable  as  it 
might  have  helped  to  dispel  our  suspicion  that  there  is 
a  more  intimate  relation  between  the  two  movements 
than  that  of  mere  synchronism. 

The  account  states  that  the  distance  between  the 
medium  and  the  cardiograph  was  such  as  to  exclude 
the  possibility  of  the  medium  manipulating  the  instru- 
ment. No  doubt,  the  reporter  has  his  grounds  for  such 
a  statement.  But,  was  the  distance  measured?  And 
what,  precisely,  did  it  measure?  We  do  not  know,  but 
at  the  beginning  of  the  seance  a  hand  issued  from  the 
curtain  near  the  head  of  one  of  the  controllers    (who 


^  From  Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  99-100:  "Dr.  Andenino  thought  sadly 
of  his  Marey  apparatus,  which  for  three  evening  had  not  been  used,  and 
looked  to  see  if  the  smoked  paper  had  not  been  touched,  when  suddenly 
a  slight  sound  indicated  that  the  needle  of  the  apparatus  was  moving. 
Dr.  Andenino  at  once  put  the  tambourine  in  action,  and  our  ears  per- 
ceived for  a  few  seconds  the  scratching  of  a  pen,  which  made  long  jumps 
on  the  smoked  surface  of  the  tambourine  in  such  a  manner  as  to  corre- 
spond to  the  pressure  exerted  inside  on  the  cardiograpli,  tracing  a  curious 
and  variable  diagram.  The  cabinet  was  quite  empty  and  the  medium's 
hands  were,  as  always,  in  the  hands  of  the  controllers.  Moreover,  the 
distance  between  the  cardiograph  and  the  medium's  chair  was  such  that, 
even  had  she  wished  to,  she  could  not  have  succeeded  in  pressing  it  with 
her  hands. 

"This  phenomenon  finally  eliminates  all  suspicion.  We  have  no  longer 
merely    the   testimony   or    our    senses,    but    that    of    a    metal    instrument. 


158  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

was  further  removed  from  it  than  was  the  medium)  and 
seized  his  hand,  and  later  the  curtain  swelled  out  and 
advanced  to  his  hand.  Evidently  the  distance  between 
the  sitters  and  the  cabinet  could  not  have  been  very 
considerable,  and  Eusapia  usually  insisted  upon  sitting 
close  to  the  curtain. 

Again,  there  is  the  rubber  tube  leading  from  the 
"tambourine"  to  the  cardiograph,  and  a  pressure  on 
which  would  have  affected  the  recording  needle.  Was 
this  tube  out  of  Eusapia's  reach?  The  report  gives  us 
no  information  on  that  point.  Nor  does  it  show  that 
the  hand  and  foot  control  was  such  as  to  prevent 
Eusapia  from  resorting  to  her  usual  trick. 

In  the  course  of  his  experiments  with  Eusapia  Palla- 
dino  in  the  same  year  Dr.  Foa  placed  on  the  table  a 
toy  piano  the  keys  of  which  were  capable  of  manipula- 
tion, and  covered  it  with  a  cardboard  box  which  was 
fastened  down  with  sealed  ribbons.  Of  course,  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  the  medium  to  touch 
the  keys  unless  the  box  were  removed,  a  thing  which 
would  necessitate  the  breaking  of  the  seals.  The  piano 
was  heard  to  play  when  the  lights  had  been  turned  out, 
but  subsequently  it  was  found  that  the  box  had  been 
unfastened  and  that  one  of  the  ribbons  was  missing.^ 

It  would  be  tedious  to  record  further  experiments 
with  automatically  recording  apparatus;  be  it  enough 
to  state  that  in  every  case  where  the  apparatus  has  been 
adequately  protected  from  manipulation  by  the  medium 
one  of  two  things  has  resulted:  either  the  protecting 
material  has  been  broken  or  removed,  and  registration 
obtained,  or  else,  when  this  could  not  be  done,  the  ap- 
paratus has  failed  to  register,  and  thus,  there  is  not  one 
instance  of  proof  of  absence  of  fraud  given  by  means  of 
automatic  registration.^ 


'  See  Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  101-102. 

-Ibid.,  pp.   103,   105,   108,  and  Podmore,  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  p. 
102. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  159 

The  investigation  undertaken  by  the  Institute  Gen- 
erate Psychologique  was  carried  out  by  a  committee  in- 
cluding M.  Jules  Courtier,  Secretary  of  the  Institute, 
M.  M.  d'Arsonval,  Ballet,  Richet,  Perrin,  M.  and 
Mme.  Curie  and  others.  M.  Courtier  published  the 
official  report  in  two  parts,  the  first  of  which  is  a  col- 
lection of  photographs  taken  at  the  sittings,  while  the 
second  contains  a  description  of  the  phenomena  ob- 
served, a  psycho-physiological  study  of  the  medium,  an 
account  of  the  physical  conditions  surrounding  her,  and, 
finally,  critical  consideration/ 

The  physical  examination  of  Eusapia's  person  and 
that  of  the  air  in  the  cabinet  failed  to  reveal  anything 
that  is  not  found  in  other  mortals  and  their  surround- 
ings. As  a  fact,  the  whole  of  the  considerable  labor  of 
the  members  of  the  Institute  brought  to  light  nothing 
of  a  startling  character,  and  its  result  was  chiefly  nega- 
tive. The  critical  part  is  mainly  concerned  with  the 
unsatisfactory  character  of  the  control  which  Eusapia 
would  allow.  Rarely  does  she  consent  to  have  t)oth  hands 
held  but  insists  upon  holding  one  of  them  on  the  hand 
of  her  neighbor.  The  same  is  the  case  with  her  feet, 
her  right  foot  having  a  sore  corn  which  makes  her  un- 
able to  sustain  the  pressure  of  her  neighbor's  foot  upon 
it.  And  the  committee  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  only 
effective  foot  control  would  be  that  exerted  by  a  per- 
son holding  the  medium's  feet  under  the  table.  But 
Eusapia  is  very  particular  in  regard  to  the  position  of 
her  observers,  and  as  a  rule  she  will  permit  none  under 
the  table.  Nor  will  she  permit  an  observer  behind  her 
or  near  the  scene  of  action,  consequently  the  controllers 
also  have  to  play  the  role  of  main  observers,  a  thing 
which  necessarily  strains  their  attention,  and  makes 
them  liable  to  be  diverted  from  their  control  by  the  oc- 
currence of  unexpected  phenomena.     Another  source 

^  For  summary  of  the  phenomena  see  Annals  of  Psychical  Science, 
July-Sept.,  1909,  pp.  400-422.     See  also  Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  129-134. 


160  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

of  distraction  is  created  by  Eusapia's  request  for  con- 
versation among  those  present.  All  attempts  to  intro- 
duce more  satisfactory  conditions  of  test  were  invaria- 
bly rejected  by  Eusapia. 

We  shall  now  refer  to  some  particular  observations 
of  interest/  One  night  when  the  seance-room  was  dimly 
illuminated  by  the  faint  gas  light  from  the  street 
Eusapia  was  sitting  with  ]\I.  Courtier  as  her  right  and 
M.  de  ]Mech  as  her  left  control.  The  latter  then  noticed 
her  freeing  her  right  hand,  at  the  same  time  placing  her 
left  little  finger  between  two  fingers  of  M.  Courtier's 
left  hand  so  as  to  make  him  believe  that  he  had  hold  of 
her  right  thumb.  At  this  moment  a  white  arm  was  seen 
opening  the  curtain  and  a  head  made  its  appearance 
thrusting  itself  with  a  cry  towards  M.  Courtier,  who 
then  felt  the  touch  of  two  hands  on  his  shoulders  and 
through  the  curtain  the  contact  of  a  face  with  his  face. 
Eusapia  had  just  freed  herself  from  her  two  controllers, 
and  so  rapid  were  her  movements  that  when  the  shock 
of  being  touched  was  over  M.  Courtier  found  her  right 
hand  on  his  left. 

At  one  of  the  seances  Eusapia's  chair  and  feet  rested 
upon  a  platform  so  arranged  that  possible  changes  in 
her  weight  would  be  registered,  and  it  was  ascertained 
that  for  each  levitation  of  the  table  or  of  other  objects 
there  was  a  corresponding  increase  in  her  weight. 
There  were  also  experiments  with  a  small  balance,  and 
the  usual  results  were  obtained.  The  balance  was  sur- 
rounded with  a  wooden  frame  w^ith  linen  or  wooden 
panels  to  fit,  and  it  was  not  until  first  the  panels  and 
then  the  frame  had  been  removed  that  she  succeeded 
in  moving  the  balance.  When  the  top  of  the  balance 
was  covered  with  lamp-black  she  was  unable  to  affect  it, 
and  when  a  balance  having  a  disc  of  paper  was  em- 
ployed, it  moved  down,  but  the  paper  crackled  just  as 

'  Report,  pp.  524-525. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenoinena  161 

it  would  if  pushed  down  with  a  stretched  hair  or  thread. 
Once  during  similar  experiments  an  isolated  observer 
saw  a  hair  between  her  hands/ 

After  their  four  years  of  investigation  the  members 
of  the  committee  passed  the  verdict  that  whereas  fraud 
had  been  practiced  by  Eusapia  they  hesitated  to  say 
that  fraud  is  the  final  conclusion,  and  the  methods  of 
automatic  recording  occasionally  employed  exclude  the 
possibility  of  hallucination  as  an  explanatory  factor. 
In  general,  they  are  of  the  opinion  that  her  phenomena 
are  losing  in  power,  a  result,  no  doubt,  of  her  growing 
old,  and  that  she  resorts  to  fraud  in  order  not  to  disap- 
point her  clients. 

In  1908  the  Society  for  Psychical  Research  decided 
to  reconsider  the  case  of  Eusapia,  and  Mr.  Carrington 
with  the  Honorable  Everard  Feilding  and  Mr.  Baggal- 
ly,  who  is  an  amateur  conjurer,  went  to  Naples,  where 
sittings  were  arranged  with  the  celebrated  medium. 
In  all,  eleven  seances  were  held,  and  a  stenographic 
record  was  kept,  giving,  besides  an  account  of  the  phe- 
nomena as  observed  by  the  investigators,  also  detailed 
notes  on  the  conditions  of  control,  light,  etc.,  as  they 
were  at  the  time  when  the  different  phenomena  oc- 
curred.^ 

The  value  of  the  investigation,  we  think,  has  been 
justly  estimated  by  Mr.  Podmore,  who  writes:  ^ 

"The  Committee  are  certainly  not  inferior  in  general 
capacity  to  any  previous  investigators,  and  their  practi- 
cal experience  is  probably  unrivaled.  The  record  is  as 
nearly  as  possible  perfect.  No  other  record  of  the 
physical  phenomena  of  spiritualism,  it  may  be  said,  is 
of  any  value  beside  it.     And  yet  the  record 

^Report,  p.  521. 

-  For  the  report  see :      Carrington,   "Eusapia  Palladino  and  Her  Phe- 
nomena,"  pp.    152-240,   and   Proceedings,   8.   P.   R.,   xxiii:  309-570. 
^  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  p.   141. 


162  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

is  at  critical  moments  incomj^lete,  and  at  almost  every 

point    leaves    obvious    loopholes    for    trickery 

The  events  of  the  three  most  important  seances  ^  can  be 
readily  explained  if  we  assume,  what  the  record  itself 
seems  to  indicate,  that  a  single  ^^erson  was  hallucinated 

and  a  single  sense,  the  sense  of  touch.     We 

can  not  blame  the  individual  members  of  the  Committee. 
Rather,  we  must  recognize  that  the  task  which  they  set 
themselves  to  perform  is  probably  beyond  human 
power.  In  no  other  field  of  human  activity  is  the 
strained  and  unremitting  exercise  of  every  sense  fac- 
ulty for  several  consecutive  hours  demanded  by  the  cir- 
cumstances." 

We  regret  that  an  adequate  criticism  of  this  highly 
interesting  report  would  be  too  lengthy  to  find  a  place 
here.  Mr.  Podmore  reaches  his  conclusion  as  to  its  evi- 
dential value  by  a  process  of  elimination,  the  validity  of 
which  we  do  not  think  can  be  refuted  and  which  we 
shall  rejDresent  in  its  main  outline. 

Of  the  eleven  seances,  eight  were  held  with  members 
of  the  Committee  controlling  the  medium  on  both 
sides, ^  and  one  of  those  was  a  complete  failure.^  Dur- 
ing the  three  remaining  seances  when  other  persons 
were  in  full  or  partial  control  the  greatest  abundance 
of  "higher"  phenomena  took  place. ^  It  is  very  signifi- 
cant that  this  latter  group  should  show  a  great 
abundance  of  "higher"  phenomena,  and  it  may  not  be 
simply  coincidence  that  it  occurred  when  the  control 
was  in  the  hands  of  "outsiders."  At  any  rate  the  very 
fact  of  "outside"  control  necessarily  reduces  the  value 
of  this  group. 

Of  the  larger  group  one  seance  was  a  failure,  leav- 
ing seven  for  our  consideration.     Of  these  three  were 


^  Seances  V,  VI,  VII.     See  Podmore,  Op.  cit.,  pp.  133  et  seq. 

^  Seances  I-III,  V-VII,  IX,  X. 

'  Seances  X. 

*  Seances  IV,  VIII.  XI. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  163 

held  with  Messrs.  Carrington  and  Feilding  controll- 
ing,^ and  the  remaining  with  the  control  of  Mr. 
Baggally  and  Mr.  Feilding,"  the  former  having  taken 
the  latter's  place  by  request  of  the  medium,  excepting 
one,  when  Mr.  Carrington  and  Mr.  Baggally  con- 
trolled.^ The  first  of  these  groups  shows  hardly  any 
"higher"  phenomena — the  only  exceptions  being  the 
transportation  of  a  small  table  from  the  cabinet  to  the 
seance  table,^  and  the  appearance  of  a  square-looking 
head  on  a  long,  black  neck  at  a  time  when  the  Feilding 
control  was  interrupted.  The  transportation  of  the 
table  took  place  when  the  light  was  lowered  to  a  degree 
to  allow  the  sitters  to  "distinguish  merely  the  outlines 

^  i-iii. 

^  V-VII. 

*  The  following  description  given  in  the  report,  quoted  from  Carrington, 
Op.  cit.,  pp.   175  et  seq. : 

(Eusapia's  legs  were  tied  by  means  of  ropes  to  the  chairs  of  the  con- 
trollers, the  ropes  being  first  passed  round  each  ankle,  knotted,  and  then 
carried  to  the  cliair  legs,  where  they  were  securely  fastened. — Op.  cit.,  pp. 
172-173— Feilding    (F)    right  control,  Carrington  '(C)    left.)      "11:30  P.  M. 

C. — The  left  curtain  has  blown  right  out  on  to  the  table. 

C. — My  right  hand  was  under  the  table  firmly  holding  the  medium's 
left  hand. 

F. — I  have  hold  of  her  right  hand  continuously  in  her  lap. 

C. — Medium  holds  my   right  hand   firmly. 

F. — The  medium  kicks  with  her  right  foot  violently  on  mine. 

C. — She  kicks  with  her  left  foot  also. 

C. — Her  left  hand  raises  my  right  hand  towards  the  curtain. 

F. — Objects  in  the  cabinet  rattle  on  the  table. 

F. — Medium  asks  me  to  put  my  left  arm  on  her  shoulder.  Her  right 
arm  is  around  my  neck. 

C. — With  her  left  hand  medium  is  holding  my  right  hand  on  the 
table. 

C. — Objects  in  the  cabinet  fall  over  on  the  table.  She  grasped  my 
right  hand  firmly  in  her  left  hand  at  the  time  this  was  going  on  and 
pressed  on  my  right  foot  with  her  left  foot. 

F.— I  held  her  right  hand  on  the  table  with  my  left  and  the  tips  of 
both  her  feet  under  the  table  with  my  right  hand. 

C. — My  left  hand  holds  her  head.  I  am  holding  her  left  hand  in  my 
right. 

"Immediately  after  this,  the  small  table,  which  had  been  placed  in  the 
cabinet  and  upon  which  rested  the  various  musical  instruments,  climbed 
up  of  its  own  accord  on  to  the  seance  table.  It  came  up,  remaining  behind 
the  curtains,  so  that  it  was  invisible.  Several  objects  remained  on  the 
surface  of  the  table — kept  there  by  the  pressure  of  the  curtain  upon  them. 
It  came  up  at  an  angle  of  about  forty-five  degrees,  and,  while  it  was  en- 


lQ4f  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

of  the  medium's  body,  and  the  details  of  her  head  and 
hand  upon  close  inspection."  ^ 

Mr.  Carrington  in  his  ''The  Physical  Phenomena  of 
Spiritualism"  gives  a  number  of  interesting  examples 
of  the  skill  of  conjurers  in  untying  and  tying  ropes 
with  which  they  have  been  l)ound.-  With  a  little  skill 
in  the  art  Eusapia  could  have  freed  herself,  and  this 
may  well  have  taken  place  when  the  kicking  occurred. 
Under  such  circumstances  she  could  have  used  one  foot 
with  which  to  bring  about  the  phenomena.  Now,  it 
is  true  that  Mr.  Feilding  is  on  record  to  have  held  the 
tips  of  her  feet — but,  perhaps,  one  of  her  shoes  was 
empty. 

deavoring  to  clamber  up  on  the  seance  table  by  a  series  of  jerks,  I  placed 
my  hand  and  elbow  upon  its  surface  and  pressed  downward  in  an  at- 
tempt to  force  it  to  the  floor.  I  experienced  a  peculiar  elastic  resistance, 
however,  as  though  the  table  were  strung  on  rubber  bands  and  was  un- 
able to  force  it  downward.  I  continued  this  struggle  for  several  seconds, 
then  yielded  and  allowed  the  table  to  clamber  on  to  our  seance  table, 
which  it  almost  succeeded  in  doing.  \Miile  this  was  happening,  we  veri- 
fied, several  times,  that  our  control  of  head,  hands,  elbows,  feet  and  knees 
was  secure." 

^Carrington,  Op.  cit.,  p.  175. 

-pp.  143  et  seq.  The  following  is  a  description  of  the  Davenport 
Brothers'  performance  (pp.  154-155)  :  "The  first  task  is  the  binding  of 
the  two  Americans.  All  present  agree  in  selecting,  for  the  performance 
of  this  delicate  task,  a  veteran  naval  officer,  who  is  expert  in  knots  of 
every  description,  and  in  whose  skill  every  one  appears  to  have  the  ut- 
most confidence."  The  ropes  are  tested  and  the  men  searched.  "The 
Americans  step  into  the  cabinet,  and  place  themselves  on  the  seats  to 
which  they  are  to  be  tied.  Our  naval  representative  takes  a  cord,  marks 
it,  to  make  sure  that  there  is  no  substitution ;  he  takes  note  of  its  precise 
length,  and  then,  by  means  of  regular  'sailors'  knots,'  hitherto  reputed 
invincible,  he  ties  up,  first  one  l)rother,  then  the  other.  He  pinions  their 
arms  to  their  sides,  ties  their  legs  firmly  together;  in  fact,  he  so  ties  and 
lashes  them  to  their  seats  and  to  the  cross  rails,  that  every  one  regards 
the  defeat  of  the  Americans  as  a  foregone  conclusion ;  they  must,  beyond 
a  doubt,  be  driven  to  cry  for  quarter."  .  .  .  scarcely  have  the  doors 
to  the  cabinet  been  closed,  "than  we  see  appear  .  .  .  the  arms  of  the 
right  hand  prisoner — still  rosy  with  the  friction  of  the  famous  'sailors' 
knots.'  ...  A  little  later,  and  the  three  doors  (to  the  cabinet)  are 
opened.  We  see  the  two  brothers,  with  smiling  countenances,  step  down 
from  the  cabinet  freed  from  their  bonds,  which  they  now  carry  in  their 
hands.  More  than  ten  minutes  had  been  occupied  in  tying  them  up;  a 
single  minute  had  sufficed  for  their  release. 

"The  first  feat  concluded,  the  young  men  again  step  into  the  cabinet, 
and  take  their  seats.  The  cords  are  laid  in  a  heap  at  their  feet,  and  the 
doors  closed.  Two  minutes  later,  the  doors  are  opened,  and  we  find  the 
mediums  again  in  bondage." 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  165 

The  second  group  has  three  seances  with  "higher" 
phenomena,  and  one,  when  Mr.  Carrington  had  taken 
Mr.  Feilding's  place,  completely  devoid  of  them.^ 
Throughout  the  three  seances  the  higher  phenomena 
occurred  on  the  right  side  of  the  medium,  which  was 
controlled  by  Mr.  Baggally.  They  all  occurred  within 
reach  of  Eusapia's  right  hand  and  foot,  and  conse- 
quently could  be  the  result  of  trickery  on  her  part  if 
we  assume  that  Mr.  Baggally  was  deceived  in  think- 
ing that  he  was  in  touch  with  her  limbs  in  question. 
Mr.  Podmore  gives  three  reasons  for  thinking  that 
this  was  actually  the  case.^  First,  Eusapia's  right  hand 
is  reported  as  resting  on  or  upon  Mr.  Baggally's  left 
hand,  while  her  left  generally  is  securely  held  by  the 
other  controller.  Secondly,  on  many  occasions  the 
curtain  was  covering  his  arm  and  hand  or  he  was  hold- 
ing the  medium's  hand  through  or  under  it.  These 
two  circimistances  can  not  fail  to  have  weakened  Mr. 
Baggally's  control,  and  consequently  to  have  aided 
Eusapia  in  fraudulent  performances  with  her  right 
hand.  Finally,  she  was  often  found  to  go  through  the 
well-known  preliminaries  for  substitution  of  hands,  and 
this  occurred  just  before  the  phenomena  were  observed. 
Taken  all  in  all  these  circmiistances  can  not  fail  to 
force  us  to  admit  that  there  is  not  sufficient  evidence  to 
deny  the  possibility  of  fraud  in  the  seances.^ 


Mr.  Carrington  being  anxious  to  establish  the  genu- 
ineness of  Eusapia's  phenomena  before  savants  of  the 
United  States  brought  her  to  New  York  in  1909,  where 
several  sittings  were  held  towards  the  end  of  that  year 
and  in  the  beginning  of  1910.  At  the  first  sittings  on 
December  13,  16  and  18  there  were  present  Mr.  G.  B. 

^No.  IX. 

-"The  Xewer  Spiritualism"  pp.   13.3-135. 

*  This  opinion  is  upheld  also  by  Mr.  W.  S.  Davis;  see  Am.  Journal, 
8.  P.  R.,  iv:  401-424. 


166  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

Dorr,  Professor  Hugo  Miinsterberg  and  others,  Pro- 
fessor Trowbridge  of  Princeton  taking  part  in  the 
second  seance.^  The  phenomenon  consisted  mainly  of 
levitations  of  the  table,  movement  of  objects  from  the 
cabinet,  swelling  of  the  curtain  and  touches.  The  levi- 
tations took  place  in  good  light,  but  the  rest  of  the  phe- 
nomena occurred  when  the  light  was  so  poor  that  ob- 
jects were  hardly  discernible." 

After  the  two  first  seances  the  sitters  were  quite  puz- 
zled, and  unable  to  explain  what  they  had  witnessed. 
During  the  third  seance  while  Professor  Miinster- 
berg was  controlling  on  the  left  a  young  man  had,  un- 
seen by  the  medium,  crawled  upon  the  floor  into  the 
cabinet,  where  he  saw  Eusapia's  left  foot  fishing  about 
for  objects.  He  immediately  seized  the  foot,  Eusapia 
let  out  a  yell  and  the  seance  was  broken  up.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  note  that  while  Eusapia's  foot  actually  was 
in  the  cabinet  Professor  Miinsterberg  continuously  felt 
the  pressure  thereof  on  his  right  foot.  In  his  article  he 
states  that  the  medium  had  lifted  her  foot  freed  from 
the  shoe  to  the  height  of  his  arm  and  was  fishing  with 
it  in  the  cabinet.  On  the  strength  of  this  statement  we 
would  think  that  what  he  felt  pressing  against  his  foot 
was  Eusapia's  empty  shoe.  But  Mr.  Carrington^  re- 
fers to  a  letter  from  the  man  who  caught  her  foot,  and 
who  is  not  at  all  sure  that  her  heel  was  bare,  and  fur- 
thermore states  that  the  foot  as  a  matter  of  fact  was 
not  bare.  We  can  not  settle  the  disputed  point,  but 
the  fact  is  nevertheless  significant,  and  should  be  noted 
that  while  her  foot  was  actually  free,  Professor 
Miinsterberg  had  the  definite  sensation  of  touch  with 
it. 


^  G.  B.  Dorr  in  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  xiv:267  et  seq.;  Pi-of.  Hyslop  in  Am. 
Journal,  8.  P.  R.,  iv:169;  Hugo  Miinsterberg  in  The  Metropolitan  Maga- 
zine, Vol.  31,  No.  5,  pp.  559-572  (Feb.  1910)  ;  Flournoj^  "■Spiritism  and 
Psychology,"  p.  282,  and  Carrington's  Introduction,  pp.  16,  17;  Hyslop, 
"Eusapia  Palladino" ;  Podmore,  "The  Reiver  Spiritualism,"  p.   143. 

■Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  xiv:268. 

^  Flournoy,  "Spiritism  and  Psychology,"  p.  284,  translator's  note. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  167 

In  April  new  sittings  were  held  in  the  house  of  Pro- 
fessor Lord  of  Columbia  University,^  and  while 
Eusapia's  attention  was  drawn  in  other  directions  two 
controllers  secreted  themselves  on  the  floor  under  the 
table  where  they  could  observe  how  Eusapia  un- 
noticed by  the  ordinary  controllers  would  free  one  foot, 
and  with  it  perform  the  phenomena  of  table  levitation, 
swelling  of  the  curtain,  movement  of  objects  in  the 
cabinet,  and  so  on.  There,  at  least,  we  have  positive 
proof  of  fraudulent  production,  gained  by  the  fact  that 
Eusapia  was  unaware  of  the  presence  of  the  controllers 
under  the  table. 


A  new  series  of  five  sittings  was  held  in  Naples  in 
November  and  December,  1910.-  The  first  of  these, 
attended  by  Count  and  Countess  Solovovo  and  Mr. 
Feilding,  was  a  failure,  and  the  phenomena  observed  in 
the  third,  fourth  and  fifth  were  in  the  opinion  of  three 
sitters  mainly,  and  in  that  of  Mr.  W.  Marriott  wholly, 
fraudulent.  The  second  seance  showed  only  insignifi- 
cant phenomena  and  led  to  no  conclusion. 

During  the  sittings  Eusapia  was  noticed  to  shake 
the  curtain,  throw  it  over  her  shoulder,  pull  at  it  with 
her  hands  or  elbow  and  to  kick  it.  She  would  use  her 
left  foot  for  producing  the  phenomenon  of  touch  and 
for  moving  objects,  while  her  elbow  was  employed  for 
upsetting  the  cabinet-table.  There  is  a  curious  ex- 
ample of  her  releasing  one  hand  without  effecting  sub- 
stitution. Mr.  Feilding  and  Mr.  Marriott  distinctly 
saw  Eusapia  removing  her  hand  from  its  position  rest- 
ing upon  the  back  of  Countess  Solovovo's  hand,  on  the 
table  and  under  the  curtain.  Yet,  the  Countess  had 
the  distinct  impression  of  its  continuous  grasp. ^   Count 

"^  Collier's  Weekly,  May  14,  1910. 
''Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxv: 57-69. 
'Ibid.,  p.  58. 


168  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

Solovovo  ascribes  this  fact  to  tactile  hallucination  in- 
duced by  the  medium/  whereas  Miss  Alice  Johnson 
thinks  it  was  due  to  a  "negative  hallucination,"  an 
everyday  fact  consisting  therein  that  the  sensation  of 
touch  often  will  remain  some  time  after  actual  contact 
with  an  object  has  ceased."  Whatever  may  be  the  ex- 
planation, the  fact  remains,  and  is  of  greatest  value  in 
showing  the  unsatisfactory  character  of  tactile  control. 


We  have  devoted  considerable  space  to  the  investi- 
gations of  Eusapia  Palladino's  mediumship.  As  will 
have  been  seen  the  twenty  years  of  labor  expended 
upon  a  study  of  her  phenomena  has  failed  to  bring 
positive  evidence  for  their  ever  being  genuine.  On  the 
other  hand,  while  fraud  and  fraudulent  methods  have 
been  found  in  abundance,  we  can  not  positively  say 
that  all  the  phenomena  are  spurious.  Nevertheless, 
while  granting  so  much,  we  think  that  there  is  a  very 
strong  argument  for  the  probability  that  not  a  single 
phenomenon  exhibited  by  the  medium  was  genuine. 

First  of  all,  the  usual  method  of  control  employed 
at  her  seances  is  fully  inadequate  for  preventing  fraud 
being  successfully  practiced.  This  has  been  pointed 
out  in  detail  in  connection  with  the  investigation  by  the 
Institute  of  Paris.  She  invariably  dictates  the  con- 
ditions of  control,  providing  for  one  hand  and  foot  be- 
ing freed,  and  preventing  observers  from  placing  them- 
selves in  inconvenient  positions  to  her.  It  is  impossible 
for  the  two  controllers,  whose  duty  it  is  to  watch  her 
hands  and  feet,  to  fulfill  this  duty  and  at  the  same  time 
observe  the  phenomena.  She  generally  refuses  to  sub- 
mit to  methods  which  would  prevent  her  using  her  legs 
and  feet  in  tlie  performances,  such  as  screens  placed 
round  her  knees  and  feet,  or,  when  she  submits  to  them, 
phenomena  cease  to  occur. 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  60. 
=  Ibid.,  p.  67-68. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  169 

Only  a  few  phenomena  take  place  in  good  or  toler- 
able light — chiefly  table  levitation  and  telekinesis.  The 
majority  are  exhibited  in  almost  complete  darkness 
when  the  inadequacy  of  the  control  is  greatly  increased. 

The  cabinet  will  always  remain  a  source  of  suspicion, 
and  in  Eusapia's  case  not  only  do  the  best  phenomena 
originate  in  the  cabinet,  but  they  grow  stronger  the 
closer  she  sits  to  the  cabinet.^  She  will  not  allow  an 
observer  in  the  cabinet,  nor  between  her  and  it.  The 
curtains  play  an  important  role  in  her  performances, 
their  swelling  out  till  they  touch  and  envelop  the 
medium  or  one  of  the  controllers,  or  at  least  their  hands 
and  arms,  often  being  a  preliminary  to  other  phe- 
nomena. Touches  and  blows  are  usually  administered 
through  the  curtain.  Furthermore,  her  dress  seems  to 
partake  in  the  function  of  the  curtains;  at  least  up  to 
the  Naples  seances  in  1908  table  levitation  could  not 
be  obtained  unless  her  dress  was  in  contact  with  one 
of  the  legs  of  the  table. 

At  times  photographic  control  has  been  employed, 
and  as  often  as  the  photographs  have  revealed  ap- 
parentl}^  genuine  phenomena  the  arrangements  in  their 
making  have  been  directed  by  Eusapia.  But  the 
fallacy  of  photographic  control  will  be  shown  by  the 
following  incident.  The  Committee  of  the  Institute 
was  making  photographs  of  levitations  of  objects, 
which  are  reproduced  in  its  report.  There  are  three 
photographs  taken  from  a  position  facing  the  medium 
and  showing  a  foot-stool  against  the  background  of 
the  dark  curtain  apparently  floating  above  the  head  of 
the  medium.  But  a  fourth  photograph  taken  at  the 
same  moment  as  the  third,  but  from  the  side,  shows 
the  same  stool  resting  on  her  head.  She  ceased  to 
levitate  the  foot-stool  after  this  exposure." 


^  Carrington   admits   this — "Eusapia   Palladino    and   Her   Phenomena," 
p.  329. 

^  Podmore,  "The  Neicer  Spiritualism,"  p.   106. 


170  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

The  phenomena  occur  at  Eusapia's  will  or  at  the  will 
of  "John  King"  and  are  often  announced  a  moment  be- 
fore their  occurrence.  Mostly  they  are  exhibited  so 
near  the  medium  that  she  could  easily  have  effected 
them  with  her  hands  or  feet.  There  is  not  a  single 
phenomenon  on  record  which  could  not  in  itself  have 
been  reproduced  by  a  conjurer,  occasionally  with  the 
aid  of  insignificant  apparatus. 

Eusapia's  methods  of  trickery,  including  that  of 
substitution  of  hands  and  feet,  when  detected  by  her 
observers  has  revealed  a  skill  which  would  postulate 
years  of  training.  This  was  the  opinion  of  the  Cam- 
bridge investigators.  When  phenomena  occur  her 
body  executes  convulsive  movements  which  would 
largely  conceal  fraud  on  her  part. 

The  abundance  and  quality  of  her  phenomena  de- 
pend upon  the  constitution  of  her  audience.  With 
French  and  Italian  controllers  and  observers  they  have 
reached  a  greater  height  than  with  those  of  the  more 
phlegmatic  temperament  of  the  Englishman.  During 
the  Naples  seances  in  1908  hardly  a  single  phenomenon 
of  importance  occurred  while  Mr.  Carrington  was  in 
control.  The  first  sittings  with  a  certain  audience  are 
never  as  good  as  subsequent  ones,  and  they  improve 
gradually,  in  proportion  as  the  sitters  gain  conviction 
in  her  favor.  It  would  seem  that  she  depends  for  her 
success  upon  the  benevolent  frame  of  mind  of  her  ob- 
servers. Gradually  she  convinces  them  that  her  phe- 
nomena are  genuine,  and  thus,  gradually  she  puts  them 
off  their  guard  and  influences  their  imagination.  That 
she  depends  on  psychological  causes  for  her  success 
will  be  shown  by  the  fact  that  she  has  been  caught  in 
fraudulent  production  with  her  hands  and  feet  while 
her  controllers  were  convinced  that  they  were  in  touch 
with  theirs.  We  refer  to  her  fishing  in  the  cabinet 
with  her  right  foot,  at  the  New  York  sittings,  while 
Professor  Miinsterberg  was  certain  that  he   felt   this 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  171 

same  foot  pressing  against  his,  and  Mr.  Carrington  de- 
clares that  the  foot  in  question,  when  caught,  was  in 
its  shoe;  and  to  her  performance  with  her  hand  in 
Naples  in  1910,  while  Countess  Solovovo  had  the  dis- 
tinct impression  of  its  being  held  against  hers.  It  has 
been  frequently  recorded  that  a  pressure  of  her  hands 
and  feet  against  those  of  her  controller  precede  her 
phenomena. 

Finally  all  experiments  undertaken  with  automati- 
cally registering  apparatus  of  one  kind  or  other,  so  con- 
structed that  manipulation  would  be  excluded  or  re- 
corded, have  either  failed  to  show  even  the  slightest 
symptoms  of  phenomena,  or  else  recorded  that  fraud 
had  been  perpetrated. 


The  phenomena  of  materialization  have  been  ex- 
hibited bj^  a  great  many  physical  mediums  under  the 
ordinary  conditions  of  test,  and  perhaps  the  most  re- 
markable case  is  that  of  Katie  King,  Sir  William 
Crookes'  spirit-guest.  While  other  "materialized 
spirits"  have  made  their  appearance  in  seance-rooms 
merely  to  be  seen  for  a  moment,  and  to  deliver  some 
message,  Katie,  in  apparently  full  human  form  and 
with  all  the  properties  of  life,  would  remain  with  Sir 
William  for  hours,  allow  herself  to  be  touched  and 
photographed — and  also  kissed — and  engage  in  the 
most  natural  manner  in  the  conversation  of  the  com- 
pany. 

The  very  idea  of  a  spirit  being  "materialized"  into 
such  complete  human  likeness,  including  clothing  to  all 
appearances  of  the  same  description  as  the  productions 
of  human  dressmakers,  would  make  one  inclined  to  re- 
ject the  whole  affair  as  a  bold  imposture,  were  it  not 
for  the  testimony  of  so  eminent  a  scientist  as  Sir  Wil- 
liam, and  it  is  because  of  his  testimony,  and  only  on 
that  ground,  that  we  think  the  case  should  be  given  a 
full  and  close  consideration. 


172  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

We  are  not  here  concerned  with  the  question  of  the 
possibihty  of  the  phenomenon  as  presented  in  the  ac- 
counts pubhshed  by  Sir  Wilham,  for  no  more  here 
than  in  regard  to  other  physical  phenomena  are  we  able 
or  justified  in  dogmatizing.  In  accordance  with  the 
principles  we  have  stated  before  we  wish  to  establish 
whether  or  not  the  evidence  at  hand  gives  positive 
proof  that  the  phenomenon  is  genuine.  And  in  Sir 
William's  own  words  the  question,  in  so  far  as  we  can 
see  it,  resolves  itself  to  this,  whether  "when  the  form 
which  calls  itself  'Katie'  is  visible  in  the  room,  the  body 
of  Miss  Cook  is  ...  .  actually  in  the  cabinet  or  is 
not  there."  ^ 

The  first  seance  reported  by  Sir  William  was  held 
in  the  house  of  Mr.  Luxmore,  the  cabinet  being  a  back 
drawing-room  separated  by  a  curtain  from  the  front 
room  where  the  company  was  sitting.  The  cabinet  hav- 
ing been  examined  Miss  Cook  entered  it,  and  "after 
a  little  time  the  form  Katie  appeared  at  the  side  of  the 
curtain,  but  soon  retreated,  saying  her  medium  was  not 
well,  and  could  not  be  put  into  a  sufficiently  deep  sleep 
to  make  it  safe  for  her  to  be  left." 

Sir  William  admits  that  the  figure  was  startlingly 
life-like  and  in  the  dim  light  prevailing  resembled  Miss 
Cook.  But  he  finds  sufficient  evidence  to  prove  that 
the  phenomenon  was  not  a  case  of  impersonation  by 
Miss  Cook  in  the  fact  that  "a  sobbing,  moaning  sound, 
identical  with  that  which  Miss  Cook  had  been  making 
at  intervals  the  whole  time  of  the  seance,  came  from  be- 
hind the  curtain  where  the  young  lady  was  supposed 
to  be  sitting."  This  evidence  he  considers  unshakable." 
To  our  mind  this  greatly  weakens  the  value  of  any 
evidence  put  forth  by  Sir  William,  who  ought  to  have 
known  that  by  some  skill  in  ventriloquism  Miss  Cook 
could  easily  have  staged  the  marvel. 

'  Researches,  etc.,  p.  102. 
'Ibid.,  pp.   102-3. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  173 

Sir  William  presents  the  following  cases  as  giving 
"absolute  proof"  to  Katie  and  Miss  Cook  being  two 
separate  material  beings. 

The  first  case  is  that  of  a  seance  of  March  12,  1874, 
held  in  Sir  William's  home,^  the  library  serving  as 
cabinet.  Having  retired  to  the  cabinet  after  some  time 
of  conversation  with  the  sitters  Katie  again  appeared 
at  the  curtain  and  asked  Sir  William  to  come  into  the 
library  and  lift  her  medium's  head.  The  cabinet  was 
dark  and  Katie  was  clothed  in  her  white  robes  and 
turban.  Sir  William  writes:  "I  immediately  walked 
into  the  library  up  to  Miss  Cook,  Katie  stepping  aside 
to  allow  me  to  pass.  I  found  Miss  Cook  had  slipped 
partially  off  the  sofa,  and  her  head  was  hanging  in  a 
very  awkward  position.  I  lifted  her  onto  the  sofa,  and 
in  so  doing  had  satisfactory  evidence,  in  spite  of  the 
darkness,  that  Miss  Cook  was  not  attired  in  the  "Katie" 
costume,  but  had  on  her  ordinary  black  velvet  dress, 
and  was  in  a  deep  trance.  Not  more  than  three  seconds 
elapsed  between  my  seeing  the  white-robed  Katie 
standing  before  me  and  my  raising  Miss  Cook  onto  the 
sofa  from  the  position  into  which  she  had  fallen." " 
Katie  reappeared  upon  Sir  William's  returning  to  his 
post  of  observation. 

First  of  all,  the  cabinet  was  dark,  and  it  necessarily 
must  have  taken  Sir  William  some  time  to  reach  the 
couch  on  which  Miss  Cook  was  found  lying.  He  esti- 
mated this  time  to  be  at  the  most  three  seconds,  but  he 
did  not  verify  this  by  his  watch — he  could  not  have 
verified  it  in  the  darkness.  Supposing  that  the  Katie 
who  met  him  at  the  curtain  in  reality  was  Miss  Cook 
attired  in  a  turban  and  with  a  white  robe  over  her  black 
velvet  dress,  what  would  have  prevented  her  from 
hastily  discarding  the  "Katie-dress"  and  flinging  her- 
self upon  the  couch  before  it  could  be  reached  by  Sir 

^  Researches,  etc.,  pp.   105-107. 
-Ibid.,  p.   105. 


174  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

William,  and  then,  upon  that  gentleman's  leaving  the 
cabinet,  again  assimiing  it?  The  hypothesis  presup- 
poses nothing  beyond  a  little  alertness  on  her  part. 

Katie  then  promised  to  show  herself  together  with 
the  medium,  and  Sir  William  again  entered  the  cabinet 
illuminated  by  a  phosphorus  lamp.  But  all  he  saw  was 
Miss  Cook,  Katie  having  completely  disappeared. 

The  second  case  is  recorded  from  a  seance  at  Hack- 
ney on  March  29th  the  same  year.  Katie  had  been 
walking  about  the  room  for  nearly  two  hours,  during 
which  time  she  had  taken  Sir  William's  arm  on  several 
occasions  and  even  allowed  him  to  embrace  her.  He 
testifies  that  there  was  nothing  to  suggest  that  he  did 
not  hold  a  young  lady  in  his  arms.  Finally,  carrying 
the  phosphorus  lamp  in  his  hand,  he  followed  Katie 
into  the  cabinet,  where  he  began  to  feel  about  for  Miss 
Cook,  whom  he  then  found  in  her  black  costume  crouch- 
ing on  the  floor  and  to  all  appearances  senseless.  Then 
raising  the  lamp  he  saw  "Katie  standing  close  behind 
Miss  Cook.  She  was  robed  in  flowing  white  drapery 
as  (he)  had  seen  her  previously  during  the  seance." 
Holding  Miss  Cook's  hand  he  now  three  times  moved 
the  lamp  from  one  figure  to  the  other,  satisfying  him- 
self that  it  was  really  a  living  woman  lying  before  him 
and  that  the  white-robed  form  had  an  objective  reality. 
Moreover,  he  saw  Katie's  face  when  she  moved  and 
smiled  on  him.  Finally,  upon  a  sign  from  Katie,  he 
left  the  cabinet.^ 

Let  us  first  note  that  the  seances  usually  were  held 
in  Sir  William's  home,  but  that  this  particular  one  was 
given  in  a  house  in  Hackney.  We  are  told  nothing  re- 
garding the  arrangement  of  the  seance-room  and  the 
cabinet  doors,  windows,  etc.  During  the  previous 
seances  Sir  William  had  become  convinced  of  Katie's 
identity.     In  order  to  present  jjroof  to  the  public  he 


^Researches,  etc.,  pp.   105-107. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  175 

was  desirous  of  being  able  to  give  a  record  of  having 
seen  Miss  Cook  and  Katie  simultaneously,  and  Katie 
had  promised  to  show  herself  together  with  Miss  Cook. 
There  is  absolutely  nothing  to  show  that  Miss  Cook 
did  not  have  a  confederate  introduced  into  the  cabinet 
at  the  proper  moment,  and  the  role  the  confederate 
would  have  to  play  was  an  easy  one.  She  did  not  have 
to  move  or  talk,  but  merely  in  the  light  from  a  phos- 
phorus lamp  look  like  a  girl  draped  in  white,  smile,  and, 
upon  sign  from  Miss  Cook,  dismiss  Sir  William  with 
a  gesture.  Absolutely  any  young  woman  could  have 
done  it. 

In  a  previous  chapter  we  have  referred  to  photo- 
graphs taken  both  of  Miss  Cook  and  of  Katie,  which 
show  slight  differences  in  the  bodily  structure  of  the 
"two  ladies."  How  easily  this  could  have  been  ar- 
ranged, by  stretching,  tip-toeing  or  slightly  bending 
the  knees,  and  by  turning  the  face  differently  for  differ- 
ent exposures,  seems  almost  superfluous  to  point  out. 

In  the  whole  of  the  evidence  presented  by  Sir  Wil- 
liam to  prove  that  Katie  King  was  not  identical  with 
Miss  Cook,  or,  at  least  on  one  occasion,  with  a  con- 
federate, there  is  nothing  whatsoever  to  carry  con- 
viction. 

The  phantom  of  the  Villa  Carmen  showed  the  same 
likeness  to  life  as  did  Katie  King.^  Prof.  Richet  in 
his  report  says  that  it  was  not  the  medium  disguised, 
nor  a  confederate  parading  in  Arab  costume,  and  af- 

'  Richet  in  The  Annals  of  Psychical  Science,  Oct.-Nov.,  1905,  says  (pp. 
269-270)  :  "This  personality  is  neither  an  image  reflected  by  a  mirror, 
nor  a  doll,  nor  a  manikin.  Indeed,  it  possesses  all  the  attributes  of  life. 
I  have  seen  it  emerge  from  the  cabinet,  walk,  go,  and  come  into  the  room. 
I  have  heard  the  sound  of  its  footsteps,  its  breathing,  and  its  voice.  This, 
hand  was  articulated,  warm,  flexible;  I  have  been  enabled  through  the 
drapery  with  which  it  was  covered  to  feel  the  wrist,  the  carpal  and  the 
metacarpal  bones.  .  .  .  The  phantom  also  blew  through  an  India- 
rubber  tube  into  a  flask  of  barite  water,  which  bubbled,  proving  that 
the  respiration   of  this  phantom  produced  carbonic  acid     .     .     ." 


176  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

firms  that  he  took  all  necessary  precautions  against 
fraud,  but  he  fails  to  give  us  the  details  of  these  pre- 
cautions. 

At  the  time  of  the  experiment  with  the  barite  water, 
Aischa,  the  negress,  was  sitting,  supposedly  with  Mile. 
Marthe,  in  the  cabinet,  and  when  Bien  Boa,  standing 
inside  the  cabinet  and  close  to  the  curtain,  bent  for- 
ward to  blow  into  the  water,  Richet  says  that  he  "dis- 
tinguished clearly  Aischa  seated  far  away  from  Bien 
Boa,  and  Marthe."  He  goes  on  to  say:  "I  could  not 
see  Marthe's  face  very  well;  but  I  recognized  the  skirt 
and  the  chemisette  she  was  wearing,  and  I  saw  her 
hands."  ^     M.  Delanne,  however,  saw  Marthe's  face. 

Even  granting  that  Marthe  did  sit  in  the  cabinet 
while  this  took  place,  we  must  not  leave  out  of  sight 
the  fact  that  she  had  smaller  sisters  who  might  easily 
have  been  introduced  into  the  cabinet.  The  photo- 
graphs appended  to  M.  Richet's  report  overwhelm- 
ingly strongly  suggest  a  rather  crude  amateur  make-up. 
The  one  opposite  p.  276  shows  a  big  form  before  the 
opening  of  the  curtain,  resembling  a  bed  sheet,  and 
the  arm  of  a  girl  seated  at  some  distance.  The  next- 
gives  the  picture  of  a  face  with  black  beard  and  "pickel- 
haube"  covered  with  a  sheet.  Both  beard  and  "pickel- 
haube"  may  have  originated  in  Nurenberg  in  so  far 
as  appearances  are  concerned.  Facing  the  following 
page  is  a  photograph  showing  the  same  figure  of  Bien 
Boa  standing  in  the  opening  of  the  cabinet,  and  also 
Aischa  seated  in  a  chair  within.  There  is  no  photo- 
graph giving  a  clear  view  of  the  whole  trio. 

There  is  only  one  way  to  prove  the  reality  of  ma- 
terialization, and  it  is  amazingly  simple.  After  the 
materialized  form  has  appeared,  let  it  be  isolated  from 
the  medium  and  investigated  while  the  cabinet  at^  the 
same  time  is  subjected  to  a  separate  scrutiny.    If  Katie 

1  Ibid.,  p.  270. 
=  Opposite  p.  280. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  177 

King  or  Bien  Boa  had  dematerialized  in  the  hands  of 
their  investigators  after  the  cabinet  had  been  thoroughly- 
searched  and  the  medium  (if  there)  examined,  we 
should  now  have  believed.     But  now  we  believe  not. 


We  have  saved  the  case  of  W.  Stainton-Moses  till 
the  last.  It  is  very  difficult  to  pronounce  upon  his  phe- 
nomena, for  there  are  no  other  records  than  his  own 
and  those  made  by  members  of  the  Spear  family  from 
his  dictation  while  in  trance.^  He  was  never  subjected 
to  scientific  investigation — was  never  even  controlled 
during  his  performances.  Our  onlj^  evidence  for  his 
phenomena,  then,  is  his  own  authority  and  that  of  the 
Spears. 

Ordinarily  this  fact  would  dismiss  his  case  as  purely 
unevidential.  But  when  we  take  into  account  the  char- 
acter of  Mr.  Moses  as  a  clergyman  of  the  Church  of 
England,  an  Oxford  man,  and  a  scholar,  known  by  all 
who  came  in  contact  with  him  as  a  gentleman  through 
and  through,"  it  would  seem  incredible  that  at  any 
time  he  could  have  resorted  to  deliberate  fraud.  And 
furthermore,  there  would  have  been  no  purpose  in  his 
defrauding,  for  he  never  gave  public  seances  and  drew 
no  advantages  from  his  spiritistic  career. 

Mr.  Myers  considers  his  phenomena  genuine,^  and 
no  doubt,  on  account  of  his  close  acquaintance  with 
Moses,  has  a  right  to  his  opinion.  Podmore,  on  the 
other  hand,  refuses  to  admit  their  supernormal  causa- 
tion, but  at  the  same  time  allows  for  the  absence  of  de- 
liberate deception  in  so  far  as  Moses  is  concerned.  He 
reminds  us,  however,  of  the  presence  of  young  children 

'■  The  following  are  the  records  of  Moses'  seances  now  in  existence : 
"Spirit  Identity,"  by  W.  S.  INIoses — out  of  print;  "Human  Nature,"  con- 
temporary numbers;  Mrs.  Spear's  Notes  in  "Light";  Posthumous  papers 
in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vols,  ix  and  xi. 

^See  F.  W.  H.  Myers'  sketch  in  Proceedings,  *S'.  P.  R.,  viii:  597-669. 

^  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  II,  pp.  22.3-37,  540-41,  546-49,  551-54,  583- 
87,  etc. 


178  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

in  the  house  of  Dr.  Spear,  suggesting  that  they  might 
have  had  a  hand  in  the  spirit  maneuvers/ 

The  more  we  study  the  Moses  case,  the  more  we  come 
to  the  conviction  that  if  it  should  be  accepted  as  ex- 
hibiting anything,  it  is  a  typical  case  of  self-delusion  on 
tlie  part  of  the  medium,  or,  in  inadequate  terms,  of  un- 
conscious deception.  For  while  there  is  nothing  to 
show  that  the  phenomena  were  ever  genuine,  nor  that 
they  exceed  the  possibilities  of  ordinary  manipulation, 
there  is  all  reason  to  believe  that  Mr.  Moses  would  not 
have  lowered  himself  to  conscious  deception.  We  shall 
return  to  his  case  in  a  later  chapter. 


Our  brief  survey  so  far  has  shown,  we  think,  the  ab- 
sence of  positive  evidence  for  genuine  physical  phe- 
nomena. The  psychical  phenomena  show  a  very  differ- 
ent aspect.  ■  Entering  upon  them  we  are  no  longer  con- 
cerned with  the  possible  substitution  of  mechanical 
action  for  the  claimed  or  supposed  action  of  unknown 
forces  or  spirits,  but  confronted  with  phenomena  of  a 
mental  order  the  reality  of  which  can  be  verified  only 
from  the  accounts  of  those  who  experience  them. 

Automatic  writing  and  speaking  constitute  the  main 
and  most  interesting  phenomena  in  this  group,  and  in 
so  far  as  the  rest  are  concerned  their  actuality  is  no 
longer  questioned.  As  we  have  already  said,  these  lat- 
ter phenomena  do  not  properly  belong  to  Spiritism, 
and  they  find  their  natural  explanation  outside  of 
spiritistic  theories. 

In  our  investigation  of  the  psychical  phenomena  we 
shall,  therefore,  confine  ourselves  to  those  known  as 
automatic  speaking  and  writing.  Of  course,  there  are 
fraudulent  mediums  who  obtain  their  knowledge  from 
natural  sources,  and  even  simulate  the  state  of  trance. 

^"Studies,  etc,"  pp.  110-133;  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  pp.  280- 
288. 


Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena  179 

Yet,  a  study  of  the  records  of  automatic  script  and 
utterance  will  convince  the  unprejudiced  inquirer  that 
all  is  not  fraud  or  coincidence/ 

If  we  discard,  then,  undoubtedly  numerous  cases  of 
simulated  trance  and  of  intelligence  obtained  from 
mediums'  blue  books  or  from  other  sources  and  de- 
liberately given  out  in  the  form  of  messages  from  the 
dead,  we  find  a  residue  of  instances  in  which  the  trance- 
state  is  genuine  and  the  intelligence  given  automati- 
cally, at  least  without  any  intention  to  defraud  on  the 
part  of  the  medium.  All  investigators  of  the  Piper 
case  rank  it  in  this  class,"  to  which  we  should  prefer  to 
add  those  of  Mr.  Moses,  Mrs.  Thompson,"  the  Verralls, 
Mrs.  Holland  and  Mrs.  Forbes,  not  excluding  other 
cases  not  mentioned  in  this  treatise.  In  face  of  what 
is  generally  accepted  as  a  fact  a  discussion  of  this  point 
would  be  to  no  purpose. 

So  far  we  have  termed  the  phenomena  genuine  with- 
out considering  their  actual  cause.  The  intelligence 
usually  purports  to  come  from  persons  departed  and 
this  point  in  itself  is  still  open  to  debate.  The  en- 
tranced medium  is  in  an  abnormal  condition  in  which 
other  personalities  than  the  normal  waking  self  appear, 
and  it  is  in  the  state  of  trance  that  the  messages  take 
form  and  are  delivered.    Whatever  may  be  their  actual, 

^  Mr.  Podmore  says  {"The  Newer  Spiritualism"  pp.  145-146):  "I 
should,  perhaps,  state  at  the  outset,  as  emphatically  as  possible,  that  it 
seems  to  me  incredible  that  fraud  should  be  the  sole  explanation  of  the 
revelations  made  in  trance  and  automatic  writing.  No  one  who  has  made 
a  careful  study  of  the  records  and  is  sufficiently  free  from  prepossession  to 
enable  him  to  form  an  honest  opinion,  will  believe  that  any  imaginable 
exercise  of  fraudulent  ingenuity,  supplemented  by  whatever  opportune- 
ness of  coincidence  and  laxness  on  the  part  of  the  investigators,  could  con- 
ceivably explain  the  whole  of  these  communications." 

-  Podmore  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xiv:  50-78;  Mrs.  Sidgwick  in  Ibid., 
XV :  16-38;  Andrew  Lang  in  Ibid.,  xv:  39-52;  Prof.  W.  R.  Newbold  in  Ibid., 
xiv: 6-49;  Dr.  Hodgson  in  Ibid..  xiii:248  et  seq.  To  these  may  be  added 
the  testimony  of  Lodge,  W.  Leaf,  William  James,  Profs.  Hyslop  and  Sidg- 
wick, Myers,  Richet  and  others. 

'Dr.  Hodgson  accuses  Mrs.  Thompson  of  fraud  (see  Proceedings,  S. 
P.  R.,  xvii:  138-161 )  but  even  to  Podmore  this  accusation  seems  unwar- 
ranted (see  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  p.  158). 


180  Genuine  and  Spurious  Phenomena 

objective  source,  their  subjective  reality,  as  found  in 
the  mind  of  the  medium,  corresponds  to  their  expres- 
sion in  speech  or  in  script.  In  this  degree,  then,  we  feel 
justified  in  accepting  the  records  as  genuine  a  piiori, 
and  the  problem  confronting  us  will  be  to  determine, 
from  a  study  of  their  contents,  whether  the  messages 
could  have  a  natural  source  or  whether  they  give  posi- 
tive proof  of  preternatural  origin.  Obviously  here,  as 
in  the  case  of  the  physical  phenomena,  we  can  not  ac- 
cept a  preternatural  element  in  the  absence  of  positive 
proof.  But  before  proceeding  to  such  inquiry  we  shall 
consider  certain  facts  and  theories  which  would  con- 
tribute to  the  elucidation  of  the  matter  before  us. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

Spiritism  and  Psychology. 

The  phenomena  of  Spiritism  which  are  not  obviously 
associated  with  dehberate  fraud  are  invariably  pro- 
duced in  the  presence  of  certain  individuals  known  as 
mediums.  Considering  therefore  the  phenomena  in  gen- 
eral as  mediumistic,  that  is  to  say  as  depending  upon 
certain  individuals  in  the  absence  of  whom  they  do  not 
occur,  we  find  in  them  a  striking  analogy  with  phe- 
nomena, in  themselves  of  an  obviously  natural  order, 
appearing  in  abnormal  mental  states  and  with  hypno- 
tized persons,  such  as,  besides  the  hypnotic  state  itself, 
cases  of  suggestion,  dissociation  of  the  personality, 
automatism,  thought  transference,  clairvoyance,  etc. 
There  are  then  to  all  appearances,  and  in  so  far  at  least 
as  their  association  is  concerned,  two  analogous  orders 
of  phenomena,  those  of  Spiritism  and  those  pertaining 
to  the  realm  of  psychology,  and  in  order  to  appreciate 
and  arrive  at  a  conclusion  regarding  the  nature  of  the 
former  we  propose  to  institute  a  comparative  study  of 
both. 

While  the  constitution  of  our  psychical  life,  or  per- 
haps more  definitely  of  our  own  personality  or  Ego, 
and  the  relation  of  its  varied  phenomena  to  purely 
psychical  or  psycho-physiological  causes  has  not  in  all 
its  details  and  aspects  been  scientifically  established,  and 
we  therefore  are  unable  to  reason  from  thoroughly 
known  principles,  the  ensemble  of  authenticated  phe- 
nomenal facts  has  been  incorporated  in  theories,  the 
tentative  acceptance  of  one  or  other  of  which  becomes 
necessary  for  an  intelligent  treatment  of  the  subject. 
The  authenticated  facts,  however,  have  a  probative 
value  independently  of  the  theories  in  which  they  are 


182  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

found  incorporated,  and  while  it  may  become  not  only 
convenient  but  necessary  to  employ  the  terminology 
they  furnish,  we  base  our  conclusions,  not  upon  the 
hypothetical  principles  implied  in  the  terminology,  but 
upon  the  facts  themselves  upon  which  they  rest. 

It  is  not  our  intention  to  enter  on  speculation  regard- 
ing human  personality;  whatever  may  be  the  different 
conclusions  of  various  schools  of  psychology,  we  ac- 
cept the  principle  of  an  individual  and  personal  unity 
of  the  Ego,  at  the  same  time  admitting  the  complexity 
of  its  constitution.  This  admission  forms  the  basis  of 
two  different  theories  regarding  the  constitution  of  the 
Ego  which  we  shall  present  prior  to  some  of  the  facts 
upon  which  they  are  based. 

The  most  ordinary  everyday  experience  tells  us  not 
only  of  the  complex  nature  of  the  Ego,  but  shows  that 
what  goes  to  make  up  my  own  Self  is  broader  than  that 
self  of  which  at  any  given  moment  I  am  conscious.  As 
a  fact,  the  conscious  Self  embraces  but  a  small  portion 
of  the  whole  Ego,  which  includes  not  only  conscious 
thought,  memory,  experience  and  action,  but  also  im- 
pressions non-consciously  received  and  later  perhaps 
emerging  into  consciousness,  latent  memory  of  what 
formerly  was  conscious,  certain  processes  of  association 
of  ideas,  and  largely  that  whole,  incessant  activity 
which  goes  to  make  up  the  ensemble  of  vital  function. 

We  shall  briefly  state  two  theories  which  we  have 
found  helpful  in  coordinating  and  systematizing  the 
psychological  phenomena  to  which  we  have  referred. 
Dr.  Grasset's  system  of  "polygonal  psychology"  treats 
the  question  of  human  personality  from  a  psycho- 
physiological point  of  view,  while  that  of  Frederic 
Myers,  the  theory  of  the  "subliminal  self,"  deals  with 
the  subject  more  purely  psychologically.  In  main  they 
follow  the  same  leading  outlines,  admitting  in  the  Ego 
a  fluctuating  interaction  between  its  normally  con- 
scious and  subconscious  strata. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  183 

Mr.  Myers  ^  considers  a  human  being  as  a  spiritual 
and  permanent  entity,  a  soul,  of  which  our  conscious 
self  is  but  a  small  portion.  This  entity  he  compares  to 
a  solar  spectrum  the  visible  region  of  which  is  extended 
at  both  ends  in  the  extra  violet  and  the  ultra  red  rays. 
Similarly  our  supraliminal  or  ordinary  consciousness, 
constituting  a  small  proportion  of  the  whole  self  and 
particularly  adapted  to  terrestrial  life,  is  extended  on 
the  one  side  in  inferior  faculties  now  lost,  but  formerly 
at  the  disposal  of  our  ancestors,  i.  e.,  the  power  to  in- 
fluence physiological  functions  at  will,  on  the  other  in 
superior  faculties  in  which  we  do  not  have  free  use  in 
this  existence  but  which  occasionally  manifest  them- 
selves, such  as  clairvoyance,  lucidity,  etc.  These  two 
extensions  form  the  subliminal  part  of  ourselves.  The 
limen  or  border,  dividing  the  supraliminal  from  the 
subliminal  is,  however,  not  impervious,  but  there  are 
constant  fluxes  between  the  two  orders. 

The  author  of  this  theory  begins  his  argument  with 
a  study  of  disintegration  of  personality,  observed  in 
obsession,  subconscious  ideas,  hypnotic  phenomena, 
secondary  states  of  consciousness,  etc.,  which  bespeak 
a  regressive  process  inverse  to  the  process  of  evolution 
by  w^hich  he  thinks  human  personality  has  come  into 
being.  Genius  shows  upshots  of  the  subliminal  into  the 
supraliminal  consciousness;  in  sleep  supraliminal  func- 
tions are  suspended  and  our  being  recruits  its  strength 
from  the  metetherical  world,  which  is  the  source  of  all 
energy;  and  finally  hypnotism,  an  experimental  de- 
velopment of  sleep,  increases  the  subliminal  vitalization 
of  the  organism.  Suggestion  Myers  defines  as  "a  suc- 
cessful appeal  to  the  subliminal  self."  The  different 
forms  of  automatism  as  well  as  telepathy  and  clairvoy- 
ance are  the  functions  of  the  subliminal  self,  ac- 
centuated in  sleep  and  particularly  in  hypnotic  trance. 

^  The  theory  is  stated  and  elaborated  in  ''Human  Personality." 


184  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

We  shall  not  follow  Myers  in  the  ultimate  develop- 
ment of  his  theory  leading  to  notions  such  as  the  dis- 
sociation of  segments  of  the  subliminal  self  and  their 
subsequent  impression  at  distance  of  other  personali- 
ties (psychical  invasion)  or  rapport  with  material 
things  in  clairvoyance,  or,  again,  the  establishing  of 
phantasmogenetic  centers  (collective  hallucinations)  ; 
nor  in  his  ultimate  conclusion  regarding  intercommuni- 
cation with  the  departed.  In  these  things  his  theories 
go  far  beyond  the  warrant  of  the  facts  and  lose  them- 
selves in  speculation. 

Dr.  Grasset^  abandons  the  purely  psychological 
ground  for  a  hypothesis  which  would  cover  and  arrange 
the  facts,  and  refers  them  rather  to  a  psycho-physiologi- 
cal structure.  His  theoiy  is  represented  in  an  upper 
psychical  center,  O,  dominating  a  polygon  of  lower 
psychical  centers."  The  O  represents  the  upper 
psychical  center  of  conscious  personality — free  will, 
the  responsible  Ego — the  cerebral  cortex  of  the  pre- 
frontal lobe.  The  polygon  consists  of  the  lower 
psychical  centers,  both  motor  (kinesthetic,  speech  and 
writing)  and  sensory  (auditory,  visual  and  tactile), 
which  are  connected  with  their  respective  centrifugal 
and  centripetal  organs,  and  interconnected  by  intra- 
polygonal  organs. 

Psychical  acts  are  partly  voluntary  and  conscious, 
partly  involuntary  and  unconscious,  corresponding  to 
the  two  groups  of  psychical  centers  and  neurones  both 
located  in  the  cerebral  mind,  viz.,  the  upper  centers  O, 
and  the  lower  or  polygonal  centers.  The  whole 
psychism  participates  in  the  management  of  life  in  the 
physiological  state,  but  when  under  certain  circum- 
stances the  two  orders  of  psychism  are  separated — 
hyper  polygonal  disaggregation — interaction  wholly  or 
partially  ceases.    Such  disaggregation  is  found  in  sleep, 

'■  In  "The  Marvels  Beyond  Science." 

-  See  diagram  at  the  beginning  of  Op.  cit. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  185 

absent-mindedness,  hypnosis,  etc.  In  this  condition  the 
polygon  is  susceptible  to  influence  from  another  O  by 
means  of  suggestion.  The  disaggregated  polygon  ex- 
presses itself  in  the  phenomena  of  automatism  and  ap- 
pears in  "secondary  personalities,"  and  a  further,  intra- 
polygonal  disaggregation  will  account  for  the  phe- 
nomena of  analgesia  and  ansethesia  often  observed  in 
induced  somnambulism. 


Spiritistic  phenomena,  as  we  have  said,  occur  with 
mediums,  i  e.,  intermediaries  between  the  phenomena  as 
perceptible  effects,  and  spirits  as  their  alleged  cause.  In 
the  physical  phenomena  the  intermediary  role  is  less 
obvious,  especially  where  physical  contact  is  not  im- 
plied, whereas  in  the  psychical  phenomena  the  medium 
exhibits  automatism  purporting  to  be  the  result  of 
spirit-possession  or  at  least  to  be  guided  under  the  in- 
fluence of  spirits.^  If  we  analyze  mediumship  we  shall 
find  its  essential  constituents  in  the  trance-state,  motor 
automatism  and  the  apparent  possession,  to  which 
should  be  added  sensory  automatism  as  found,  for  in- 
stance, in  the  hyperfesthesia  which  makes  the  control 
of  Eusapia  Palladino's  one  hand  and  foot  very  painful 
to  her. 

The  trance-state  is  indicative  of  dissociation  of  per- 
sonality as  we  find  it  in  various  psychological  abnormal 
states  in  which  both  automatism  and  secondary  per- 
sonalities appear.  We  shall  now  present  these  psycho- 
logical phenomena  for  the  purpose  of  comparison  with 
the  corresponding  phenomena  of  spiritism  as  we  have 
presented  them  in  another  chapter. 

^  Even  Miss  Johnson  makes  this  distinction.  "Mr.  Podmore  concludes 
that  the  Piper-Myers  is  not  identical  with  the  Verrall-Myers.  For  my 
own  part  it  never  occurred  to  me  to  suppose  that  it  was.  It  never  oc- 
curred to  me  to  imagine  that  in  the  scripts  we  could  find  anything  more 
than  a  product  of  the  mental  interaction  of  two  personalities — the 
automatist  and  another."      (Proceedings,  <S'.  P.  R.,  xxvi:262. ) 


186  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

Motor  automatism  in  the  state  of  hyperpolygonal 
dissociation  takes  the  form  of  inteUigent  communica- 
tion both  in  the  automatic  handwriting,  automatic 
speech  and  automatic  gesture.  Regarding  the  latter 
Grasset  observes^  that  "gesticulating  mediums  answer 
questions  by  gestures  of  the  head  or  the  hand  or  by  run- 
ning their  fingers  on  letters  of  the  alphabet  with  ex- 
cessive speed."  This  would  do  away  admirably  with 
the  argument  for  spirit  agency  which  might  be  drawn 
from  the  great  speed  with  which  the  ouija  board  is 
sometimes  found  to  move." 

Automatic  handwriting  has  been  observed  with  ab- 
sent-minded people  and  hysterics,  and  sometimes  so- 
called  mirror  writing  has  been  obtained.  In  this  we 
find  a  very  close  parallel  to  the  spiritistic  phenomena 
of  automatic  writing  and  planchette  writing  even  with 
mediums  who  are  not  entranced,  and  for  the  success  of 
these  phenomena  it  is  necessary  that  the  medium's 
mind  should  not  be  occupied,  but  rather  present  as  much 
of  a  blank  as  possible. 

"Secondary  personalities"  also  develop  in  dreams,^ 
but  still  more  distinctly  in  advanced  stages  of  dissocia- 
tion such  as  epilepsy,  hysteria,  and  as  a  consequence  of 
suggestion  or  auto-suggestion  in  hysterically  inclined 
persons.  They  are  then  often  accompanied  by  hyper- 
sesthesia  of  sight  and  hearing  and  by  dynamogeny  of 
the  central  sensorium — visual  and  auditory  hallucina- 
tions. Hypnotic  suggestion  or  auto-suggestion  has  a 
vivifying  effect  upon  the  memory  so  that  in  the  hyp- 
notic trance  the  memory  of  previous  hypnotic  states, 
and   other   impressions   lost   to    the   normal   conscious 

^  "The  Marvels  Beyond  Science,"  p.  136. 

^  Sir  William  Barrett,  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseeyi,"  p.  177: 
"Questions  were  promptly  answered  (by  the  ouija  board)  and  the  indi- 
cator often  moved  so  rapidly  that  (the  hands  of  the  sitters)  had  some 
difficulty  in  keeping  pace  with  it." 

'  R.  L.  Stevenson's  "my  other  fellow"  appeared  to  him  as  a  distinct 
part  of  his  mind  while  he  was  awake  during  illness.  See  his  letter  in 
"Human  Personality"  vol.  I,  pp.  301   et  seq. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  187 

memory,  are  recalled.  We  shall  now  refer  to  some  ex- 
amples of  manifestation  of  "secondary  personalities." 

Miss  "Christine  L.  Beauchamp,"  a  young  lady  of 
extremely  idealistic  temperament  and  almost  morbid 
New  England  conscientiousness,  during  her  College 
years  developed  neiu'asthenia  in  a  degree  which  finally 
compelled  her  to  abandon  her  studies  and  left  her  a 
physical  wreck.  In  this  condition  she  came  under  the 
observation  of  Dr.  Morton  Prince,  whose  report  on  her 
case  will  be  found  in  the  Proceedings  for  the  Society 
of  Psychical  Research."  ^ 

In  1898 — she  was  then  23  years  old — Dr.  Prince 
submitted  her  to  hypnotic  treatment  and  she  was  easily 
placed  in  the  somnambulistic  state,  which  is  designated 
by  him  as  B  ii,  B  i  being  the  waking  Miss  Beauchamp. 
One  day  when  hypnotized  it  was  found  that  she  had  no 
knowledge  of  something  which  she  had  done  in  a 
previous  hypnotic  state  and  also  that  in  this  state — of 
which  she  later  denied  the  facts — she  was  an  entirely 
distinct  and  separate  person.  So  far  three  distinct 
mental  states  had  been  observed,  of  which  the  waking, 
or  B  i,  knew  nothing  of  the  others,  while  B  ii  knew  B  i 
and  no  more,  and  B  Hi  knew  both  B  i  and  B  H. 

B  ii  and  B  Hi  were  constantly  rubbing  her  eyes  in  an 
effort  to  get  them  open,  which,  however,  was  frustrated 
by  Dr.  Prince,  who  feared  that  this  would  later  cause 
spontaneous  induction  of  those  states.  Finally  B  Hi 
succeeded  in  getting  her  eyes  open,  and  from  now  on 
that  personality  had  a  spontaneous  and  independent 
existence. 

Bm,  who  took  the  name  "Sally  Beauchamp,"  proved 
a  most  interesting  personality,  quite  different  from  B  i. 
While  B  i  was  serious  minded,  studious,  conscientious 
and  religious  minded,  Sally  was  full  of  fun  and  without 
worry,   fond  of   amusements   and   quite   averse   to   in- 

^  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xv:  466-483  contains  the  report  to  the  Inter- 
national Congress  of  Psychology,  Paris,  Aug.  1900. 


188  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

tellectual  occupations  and  things  pertaining  to  religion. 
She  lacked  many  of  the  educational  accomplishments 
of  B  i,  but  on  the  other  hand  she  was  free  from  her 
physical  infirmities,  never  suffered  pain  and  felt  no 
fatigue.  In  short,  Sally  enjoyed  perfect  health.  While 
Sally  showed  herself  very  kind-hearted  towards  others, 
she  had  a  strong  dislike  to  B  i,  whom  she  tormented  in 
all  possible  ways.  She  would,  for  instance,  walk  far  out 
in  the  country,  then  wake  up  and  become  B  i,  who  with 
all  her  bodily  infirmities  and  quite  penniless  would  have 
to  struggle  home.  She  would  leave  packages  contain- 
ing living  snakes  for  B%  write  embarrassing  letters  to 
her  and  even  make  her  tell  obvious  lies,  to  her  horror  and 
discomfort.  She  was  able  not  only  to  know  B*'s 
thoughts,  but  also  to  influence  them  as  well  as  to  a  cer- 
tain extent  her  muscular  activity.  Sally  thus  persisted 
during  the  B  i  and  B  U  states,  while  B  i  became  entirely 
effaced  during  the  Sally  state,  which  left  completely 
blank  gaps  in  her  memory. 

From  Sally  Dr.  Prince  obtained  the  whole  past 
history  of  B  i,  which  gives  at  hand  that  Miss  Beauchamp 
developed  her  peculiar  characteristics  and  her  neurasthe- 
nia in  1893  as  the  results  of  a  very  great  shock  she  had 
received.  In  other  words,  at  that  time  Miss  Beau- 
champ  modified  into  Bi  In  1899  the  incident  of  six 
years  previously  was  suddenly  brought  to  her  mind, 
which  threw  her  into  a  highly  excited  state  and  caused 
the  development  of  a  new  personality,  'Biv,  quite  un- 
like the  rest  and  unaware  of  the  existence  of  B  i.  Un- 
fortunately a  description  of  this  personality  would 
make  our  reference  too  lengthy. 

Dr.  Prince  draws  the  following  conclusions  as  to  the 
relations  between  the  different  states.  Neither  JM  nor 
'Biv  is  strictly  the  original  Miss  Beauchamp,  nor  are 
they  somnambulistic  personalities,  but  modifications  of 
the  original  Self.  In  1893  the  original  Miss  Beau- 
champ disintegrated  into  B  i  and  B  u'.     As  a  fact  B  iv 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  189 

retained  a  memory  of  Miss  Beauchamp's  life  up  to  the 
emergence  of  B  i  in  1893.  B  Hi  is  the  "subhminal  con- 
sciousness" which  developed  and  assumed  an  inde- 
pendent existence  in  1897.  Both  Bi  and  Bu"  if  hypno- 
tized become  B  U,  who  knows  the  thoughts  of  B  i  and 
Biy.  But  these  latter  are  ignorant  of  B  u's  existence. 
After  seven  years  of  experimentation  Dr.  Prince 
finally  succeeded,  with  the  aid  of  suggestion,  in  com- 
bining the  two  personalities  B  i  and  B  ii  into  what  he 
considered  the  original  Miss  Beauchamp,  a  healthy  and 
normal  woman,  and  Sally  now  ceased  to  appear. 

Both  Miss  Beauchamp's  case  and  the  well  known 
one  of  the  "Watseka  Wonder"^  show  extreme  degrees 
of  dissociation  with  very  individualized  and  permanent 
"secondary  personalities,"  and  as  such  hardly  find  a 
direct  parallel  in  spiritistic  mediumship. 

But  they  will  show  the  possibilities  of  nature  in  this 
respect  and  contribute  to  a  better  understanding  of  the 
cases  to  which  we  now  shall  refer.^ 

Mme.  Hugo  d'Alesi  when  hj^pnotized  would  pass 
into  somnambulism,  and  then,  after  a  short  interval  of 
catalepsy,  emerge  a  new  personality,  proclaiming  her- 
self one  of  various  spirits  that  had  taken  hold  of  her.^ 
She  would  be  a  young,  whimsical  woman,  slightly 
defective  pronunciation,  or  "Philippe,"  or  "M.  Tetard, 

^  Lurancy  Vennum,  the  "Watseka  Wonder,"  a  girl  of  fourteen  who 
showed  herself  peculiar  and  had  fits,  was  hypnotized  and  developed  the 
personality  of  a  girl  who  had  died  twelve  years  previously.  The  new  per- 
sonality showed  the  most  remarkable  acquaintance  with  those  things  the 
dead  girl  knew  in  her  lifetime,  and  the  impersonation  was  most  realistic. 
After  five  months  the  original  personality  returned,  to  give  room,  at 
intervals,  for  the  one  developed.  ( See  Mvers,  "Human  Personality,"  vol. 
I,  pp.  360-368.) 

-  Dr.  Forel  records  a  rather  similar  case  of  a  young  woman  who  under 
the  influence  of  repeated  induction  of  somnambulism  by  imiversity  stu- 
dents, spiritists  and  French  experimenters  developed  a  secondary  per- 
sonality of  such  depravity  and  loose  habits  that  her  life  was  threatened 
with  ruin. — Forel,  "Hypnofismus,  etc.,"  "Ein  Fall  von  Doppeltem 
Bewusstsein,"  pp.  233-237.  See  also  the  case  of  a  bank  clerk  who  for  sev- 
eral days  assumed  a  secondary  personality,  in  which  state  he  undertook  a 
journey.  Not  until  hypnotized  could  he  recall  what  he  liad  done  during 
this  period. — In  C.  Lloyd  Tuckey,  "Treatment  by  Hypnotism  and  Sug- 
gestion," pp.  105-106. 

^  Grasset,  "The  Marvels  Beyond  Science,"  pp.  142-144. 


190  Spiritisrti  and  Psychology 

chewing  tobacco  or  drinking  ordinary  wine,"  or  "Abbe 
Gerard,  who  intends  to  dehver  a  sermon,  but  whose 
head  is  thick  and  mouth  sticky  because  of  the  preceding 
incarnation,"  or,  again,  an  obscene  fellow,  a  baby,  or  a 
little  girl  of  three  years.  When  aroused  from  the 
hypnotic  trance  she  would  immediately  resume  her 
ordinary  personality.  Mile.  Couesdon^  would  hypno- 
tize herself  and  then  become  the  "Angel  Gabriel,"  using 
a  language  in  which  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the 
word-ending  "E"  made  false  rhymes. 

M.  Flammarion  gives  some  very  interesting  samples 
of  automatism  from  his  own  experience.^  His  friend, 
Victorien  Sardou,  had  experimented  with  mediumship 
and  produced,  apparently  in  a  waking  state,  automatic 
writing  describing  the  life  of  the  inhabitants  of  Jupiter. 
The  account  is  very  fanciful  and  reflects  the  current 
ideas  on  the  topic  at  the  time.  He  would  also  draw 
automatically,  and  we  have  before  us  two  sketches  of 
Zoroaster's  house  on  Jupiter,  the  one  showing  the  tra- 
ditional kind  of  "Pan"  and  "animal  devils."  Other 
sketches  show  the  houses  of  Mozart  and  Bernard 
Palissy  on  the  same  planet.  After  some  unsuccessful 
attempts  M.  Flammarion  also  developed  automatic 
writing  and  produced  an  astronomical  treatise  signed 
"Galileo."  The  document,  however,  failed  to  add  any- 
thing new  to  science,  and  the  Professor  recognized  in 
it  the  reflection  of  his  own  mind. 

But  the  classical  example  is  found  in  the  case  of  Mile. 
Smith,^  the  famous  subject  of  Professor  Flournoy,  who 
in  her  trance  is  first  "possessed"  by  "Victor  Hugo" 
writing  trifling  church  hymn  rhythms ;  later  by  Leopold, 
who  after  a  struggle  drives  "Victor  Hugo"  from  her 

'^  Annales  des  Sciences  Psychiques,  1896,  p.  124. 

-  Flammarion,  "Mysterious  Psychic  Forces,"  pp.  25-27. 

^  Flournoy.  "Des  Indes  d  la  Planete  Mars,  Etude  sur  un  cas  de 
somnambulism  avec  glossologie ;  Idem,  "Nouvelles  Observations  sur  un  cas 
de  Somnambulism,"  Geneva  1902,  and  "Un  Nouveau  Cycle  Somnambulique 
de  Mile.  Smith:  ses  Peintures  religieuses"  in  Arch,  de  Psychologic,  Tome 
vii,  July   1917,  p.  63,  and  September   1907,  p.  206. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  191 

organism  over  which  he  then  takes  complete  possession, 
and  Joseph  Balsamo,  the  spirit  of  Caghostro.  There 
are  various  periods  in  her  automatism,  the  most  inter- 
esting being  her  Martian  romance  and  her  revelation  of 
the  unknown  history  of  ancient  India. ^ 

Having  in  her  trance  perceived  a  bright  star  towards 
which  she  feels  herself  floating  Helene  Smith  finally 
sees  three  enormous  spheres  and  is  informed  by  the 
table  that  she  is  now  on  Mars.  Upon  the  suggestion 
of  M.  Lemaitre,  who  is  present,  she  now  gives  a  de- 
scription of  life  and  people  on  the  planet — carriages 
without  horses  and  wheels,  houses  with  water  jets  play- 
ing on  their  roofs,  men  and  women  like  ourselves  but 
dressed  in  long,  ornamented  blouses,  and  so  forth.  She 
finds  Alexis,  a  former  pupil  of  Lemaitre' s  and  now 
dead,  mingling  with  the  Mars  people.  She  illustrates 
her  descriptions  with  sketches,  automatically  drawn, 
and  representing  landscapes,  Mars  inhabitants,  vil- 
lages, houses  and  a  flying-machine  which  looks  like  a 
carriage  lamp  with  a  dust  broom  stuck  through  the 
glass."  The  most  remarkable  part  of  the  Martian  ro- 
mance is  the  revelation  of  the  Martian  language,  which 
includes  complete  alphabet,  grammar  and  vocabulary, 
and  is  given  both  vocalh^  and  in  writing.  It  shows  a 
great  similarity  to  French,  both  as  regards  construc- 
tion and  sounds,  and  the  letters  in  the  alphabet  corre- 
spond exactly  to  those  in  the  French  alphabet.'^  This 
is  an  example  of  the  language  in  Latin  characters : 

*  "For  certainly  the  revelations  of  (Mile.  Smith)  upon  the  Martian 
language  or  the  unknown  history  of  ancient  India  do  not  give  first  place 
to  any  of  the  preceding  (including  the  case  of  W.  Stainton-Moses  and 
others)  in  brilliance  or  in  orginality."  (Flournoy  in  "Spiritism  and 
Psychology,"  p.   135.) 

^  See  illustration  in  "Des  Indes  a  la  Planrte  Mars,"  p.   155. 

^  "Par  bonheur  ( la  langue  martienne ) ,  en  depit  de  ses  apparences 
6tranges  et  des  cinquante  millions  de  lieues  qui  nous  separent  bon  an 
mal  an  de  la  rouge  planete,  est  au  fond  si  proche  voisin  du  francais  que 
cette  enterprise  n'offre  guere  de  difficulte  dans  son  cas."  (Op.  cit.,  p. 
202.) 

".  .  .  la  transcription  francaise  s'impose  d'elle  meme,  chaque  lettre 
martienne  ayant  son  equivalent  exact  dans  notre  alphabet  (sauf  le  signe — 
muet — de  certains  pluriels     .     .     .)"    (Op.  cit.,  p.  203.) 


192  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

Dode     ne     ci     haudan     te     mess     metiche     astane 
This     is  the    house     of  the   great     man     Astane 

ke       de     me  veche. 
which  thou  hast  seen} 

Professor  Flournoy  naturally  comes  to  the  con- 
clusion that  the  whole  Martian  language  has  its  sole 
source  in  Helene's  imagination  from  whence  it  is  sub- 
consciously elaborated  in  her  somnambulistic  state. ^ 

The  more  involved  revelation  of  unknown  Indian 
history  includes  specimen  of  Sanscrit  and  hindoo  chant. 
The  psychological  analysis  of  these  somnambulic 
lucubrations  will  be  found  in  Flournoy's  work,^ 

In  January,  1894,  Helene  was  informed  by  the  table 
that  she  was  the  reincarnation  of  Marie  Antoinette, 
Queen  of  France.  This  was  the  beginning  of  the  so- 
called  Royal  Cycle.  Previous  to  this  event  a  Mrs.  B. 
in  whose  house  Helene  was  giving  seances  had  offered 
her  an  engraving  from  Dumas'  "Les  Memoires  d'un 
Medecin"  representing  the  decanter  scene  between 
Balsamo  (Cagliostro)  and  the  Dauphiness,  which 
doubtlessly  called  to  her  mind  the  popular  tradition  ac- 
cording to  which  Cagliostro  was  supposed  to  have  been 
closely  connected  with  Marie  Antoinette.  Mme.  B. 
also  intimated  that  Leopold,  Helene's  spirit  guide, 
might  be  identical  with  Joseph  Balsamo,  which  was 
later  confirmed  by  Leopold  through  the  table.  JMme. 
B.  now  suggested  that  Helene  must  be  the  embodiment 
of  Lorenza  Feliciani,  Cagliostro's  medium,  which  she 
also  believed  till  she  learned  that  this  person  was  a 
purely  fictitious  creation  of  Alexandre  Dumas.    It  was 

^  Ibid.,  p.  204. 

^  "J'ai  a  peine  besoin  d'ajoiiter,  en  terminant,  que  toute  hypothese 
spirite  ou  occulte  quelconque  me  parait  absolument  superflue  et  injusti- 
fi6e  dans  le  oas  du  martien  de  Mile.  Smith.  L'autosuggestibilite,  mise  en 
branle  par  certaines  stimulations  du  milieu,  comme  on  vient  de  le  voir 
par  I'histoire  de  I'ultramartien,  suffit  amplement  a  rendre  compte  de  ce 
cycle  tout  entier."      (Op.  cit.,  p.  256.) 

^Op.  cit.,  pp.  .318-322. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  193 

then  that  she  was  informed  by  the  table  that  she  was 
Marie  Antoinette.  These  prehminary  remarks,  we 
think,  will  clear  up  the  origin  of  the  Royal  Cycle. 

To  begin  with,  both  Balsamo  and  Marie  Antoinette 
were  communicating  through  the  table,  Helene  giving 
the  impersonation  by  gesture.  Gradually  automatic 
writing  appeared  and  finally  Balsamo  began  to  speak, 
and  Marie  Antoinette  to  be  impersonated  both  in  speech 
and  pantomime.  When  controlled  by  Balsamo  she 
speaks  with  a  burr  and  lisps,  using  Italian  accent  and 
now  obsolete  words.  She  makes  Marie  Antoinette 
speak  with  English  accent.  In  both  cases  her  automatic 
writing  uses  the  spelling  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
While  impersonating  Marie  Antoinette,  however,  she 
accepts  and  smokes  a  cigarette  (she  does  not  smoke  in 
her  waking  state) ,  and  while  evading  such  traps  as  refer- 
ences to  telephones  and  bicycles  by  the  Marquis  de 
Mirabeau  and  Louis-Philippe  of  Orleans  impersonated 
by  two  gentlemen  present,  she  uses  expressions  such  as 
"to  rim  off  the  track"  and  "meter"  and  "centimeter" 
which  the  famous  Queen  must  have  learned  in  the  be- 
yond. Her  automatic  writing  under  the  two  "controls" 
shows  no  resemblance  to  either  the  handwriting  of 
Balsamo  or  that  of  Marie  Antoinette.^  And  on  the 
whole,  Flournoy  concludes,  there  is  nothing  in  the 
whole  comedy  which  can  not  be  ascribed  to  subliminal 
creations  on  the  part  of  Mile.  Smith,  prompted  and 
facilitated  by  the  great  quantity  of  historical  and 
legendary  souvenirs  of  the  illustrious  Queen  to  be  found 
in  France.^ 


If  we  now  compare  the  phenomena  of  automatic 
speech  and  writing  with  the  cases  to  which  we  have  re- 

^  See  comparison  between  the  automatic  writing  of  the  "Marie- 
Antoinette"  control  and  that  of  the  real  Marie  Antoinette  in  Op.  cit.,  p. 
327. 

2  Op.  cit.,  p.  338. 


194  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

ferred  we  shall  not  fail  to  find  a  very  close  parallel.  The 
entire  mechanism  of  the  s^^iritistic  phenomena  with 
their  dramatization  and  imj^ersonation  of  those  de- 
parted far  from  exceeding  what  has  been  exhibited  by 
Mile.  Smith  and  in  other  cases,  very  often  falls  far  be- 
low them  in  vigour  and  verisimilitude.  So  far  as  the 
mechanism  of  spiritistic  automatism,  then,  is  concerned, 
there  is  no  reason  to  ascribe  to  the  phenomena  a  pre- 
ternatural origin.  But  it  is  necessary  to  investigate 
them  from  the  point  of  view  of  the  intelligence  which 
they  convey  in  order  to  see  whether  knowledge  is  re- 
vealed which  would  have  to  be  ascribed  to  spirits.  Pre- 
liminary to  proceeding  to  this  inquiry  we  shall  investi- 
gate the  possibility  of  conveying  intelligence  from  one 
mind  to  another  as  claimed  by  defenders  of  telepathy 
and  thought-transference,  but  before  so  doing  we  shall 
see  what  bearing  the  development  of  "secondary  per- 
sonalities" and  automatism  may  have  upon  the  physical 
phenomena  of  Spiritism. 


Our  survey  of  the  phenomena  of  Spiritism  as  a  whole 
showed  us  that  whereas  a  portion  of  the  psychical  phe- 
nomena were  undoubtedly  genuine,  the  physical  phe- 
nomena could  not  be  proven  not  to  have  been  mechani- 
cally produced  by  the  medium.  Deliberate  fraud  was 
found  in  great  abundance  and  no  doubt  would  have  to 
be  suspected  in  most  cases  of  physical  mediumship. 
Even  Eusapia  Palladino  was  repeatedly  shown  to  be 
conscious  of  her  fraud. 

There  is  at  least  one  case,  however,  in  which,  for  rea- 
sons already  stated,  it  is  very  difficult  to  assume  de- 
liberate fraud,  the  case  of  W.  Stainton-Moses,  and  this 
fact  brings  up  the  question  whether  his,  and  a  certain 
portion  of  physical  phenomena  in  general,  could  not  be 
explained  by  automatism  in  the  trance  state. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  195 

Mr.  Moses'  performances  included  phenomena  of  the 
most  suspicious  character,  such  as  prolonged  levitation 
of  the  medium,  carrying  of  objects  from  one  end  of  the 
house  to  the  other,  arranging  of  various  objects  to  form 
an  elaborate  figure  on  Mr.  Moses'  bed,  etc.,  under  cir- 
cumstances which  would  not  have  prevented  him  from 
playing  the  role  of  acting  spirit.  A  great  majority  of 
his  physical  phenomena  will  therefore  instantly  find  an 
adequate  explanation  if  we  assume  that  Mr.  Moses  in 
his  trance  state  developed  a  secondary  personality 
which  considered  itself  to  be  Grocyn  or  some  other 
spirit,  and  employed  the  medium's  hands  for  the  neces- 
sary manipulations.  We  have  spoken  of  visual  and 
auditory  hallucinations  as  frequently  occurring  in 
states  of  dissociation  of  personality  which  would  ex- 
plain the  apparitions  he  saw  and  the  voices  he  heard. 
Nor  is  it  impossible  that  his  direct  spirit  writings  were 
automatically  produced. 

If  from  Moses'  phenomena  we  turn  to  those  of 
Eusapia  Palladino  we  shall  find  that  whereas  those  ex- 
hibited at  Cambridge  were  obviously  fraudulent,  and 
although  at  all  her  seances  she  has  been  observed  to  per- 
form a  certain  number  of  her  phenomena  with  her  hands 
and  feet,  there  are  other  instances — and  we  refer  par- 
ticularly to  the  Naples  sittings  in  1908 — where  the  con- 
trol employed  would  exclude  fraud  of  this  particular 
nature.  It  is  admitted  by  almost  all  her  investigators 
that,  whereas  comparatively  easily  detected  fraud  is 
often  resorted  to,  "better"  phenomena  also  occur  when 
at  least  this  kind  of  fraud  is  not  employed. 

We  have  shown  that  she  was  never  able  to  produce 
the  slightest  phenomenon  with  adequate  self-registering 
apparatus  and  also  that  she  actually  deceived  her  con- 
trollers in  a  very  subtle  manner.  And  to  our  conclu- 
sion that  all  her  phenomena  could  have  been  fraudu- 
lently produced  we  must  then  add  that  besides  her 
more  easily  detected  method  of  manipulation  she  must 


196  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

have  employed  another  method  implying  much  greater 
skill  and  particularly  greater  rapidity  and  precision  in 
her  movements. 

It  is  of  common  knowledge  that  somnambules  ex- 
hibit an  extraordinary  precision  in  their  movements — 
they  will,  v.  g.,  walk  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice  or  climb 
about  in  the  most  dangerous  positions,  and  with  the 
greatest  ease.  This  is  but  a  phase  of  the  abnormal  de- 
velopment of  certain  faculties  witnessed  in  hyper- 
sesthesia  and  in  increase  of  muscular  power.  To  this 
must  be  added  automatic  muscular  movement  verified 
for  instance  in  experimental  table  turning  ^  and  the  ex- 
cessive speed  which  it  attains,  as  we  have  remarked  in 
connection  with  the  ouija  board. 

If  we  return  to  the  case  of  Eusapia  Palladino  we  can 
base  the  following  theory  upon  facts  verified  in  the 
trance  or  somnambulistic  state.  John  King  is  a  "sec- 
ondary personality"  impersonating  a  spirit  and  making 
use  of  Eusapia's  bodily  organs  for  automatic  speech 
and  movements.  Her  hands,  arms,  legs  and  feet,  and 
probably  her  head  and  neck,  partake  in  these  movements 
which  are  characterized  by  extraordinary  precision  and 
a  speed  which  defies  detection."  Visual  hyperaBsthesia 
would  undoubtedly  be  very  helpful  to  the  medium  at 
dark  seances. 

Evidently  this  hypothesis  would  fully  explain 
Eusapia's  phenomena  of  movement  of  objects  within 
her  reach  and  of  sounds,  blows,  pinchings,  production 
of  objects  and  partial  materializations  in  the  neighbor- 

^  Faraday  first  discovered  that  table  turning  was  effected  by  uncon- 
scious muscular  movement  in  the  fingers  of  the  medium  and  the  sitters. 
The  movement  is  so  minute  that  it  can  not  be  noticed  by  ocular  obser- 
vation. But  if  sand  paper  is  pasted  upon  the  table  with  soft  paste  and 
the  hands  of  the  sitters  are  placed  on  the  paper  it  will  be  found  that 
the  paper  will  move  on  the  top  of  the  table  in  the  direction  in  which  the 
table  is  turning. 

-  On  the  principle  that  a  movement,  v.  g.,  of  the  hand  is  not  noticed 
if  done  with  greater  rapidity  than  that  of  which  the  observer's  eyes  are 
capable. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  197 

hood  of  the  medium,  as  it  would  also  her  autolevitations, 
in  the  presence  of  the  strictest  kind  of  visual  and  tactile 
control  under  which  these  phenomena  have  been  ob- 
served. The  faculties  developed  in  the  entranced 
medium  are  supernormal,  and  consequently  the  me- 
chanical mode  of  production  of  the  phenomena  is  super- 
normal and  beyond  that  which  a  skilled  conjurer  could 
exhibit  in  the  waking  state.  Simple  apparatus  such  as 
perhaps  a  black  cord  would  now  explain  the  telekinetic 
phenomena  occurring  beyond  the  medimn's  reach,  and 
a  small  metal  "corn"  fastened  on  a  metal  strap  around 
one  foot  and  slightly  protruding  through  her 
stocking  could  be  pressed  through  the  hem  of  her 
dress,  which  always  touches  one  leg  of  the  table,  into 
the  wood  of  the  leg  so  that  the  foot  the  more  easily 
might  perform  the  levitation  of  the  table.  And  with 
all  this — Eusapia  might  have  been  almost  an  honest 
woman ! 


Finally  we  shall  turn  our  attention  to  natural,  psy- 
chical phenomena  known  as  thought-transference,  telep- 
athy and  tel^sthesia  as  possibly  accounting  for  what 
broadly  speaking  might  be  termed  "spirit-messages." 

Telepathy  and  clairvoyance,  the  popularly  best 
known  among  these  phenomena,  have  already  obtained 
a  rather  broad  acceptance,  based,  no  doubt,  less  upon 
scientific  evidence  than  resulting  from  the  careless  man- 
ner in  which  the  terms  have  been  scattered  about  by 
writers  in  the  popular  vein,  and  in  the  course  of  time 
they  have  silently  slipped  from  the  realm  of  scientific 
hypotheses  to  that  of  established  facts  in  popular  con- 
sciousness. Scientifically  telepsychism  has  not  been  es- 
tablished, for  while  certain  facts  have  been  recognized 
by  many  as  actually  existing  and  pointing  to  extra- 
sense  communication  and  perception,  yet  the  laws  by 
which  these  facts  are  governed  must  be  said  so  far  to 


198  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

be  unknown  to  science.  Before  turning  to  evidential 
matter  we  shall  briefly  define  the  terms  which  we  shall 
have  occasion  to  use. 

Telepsychism  is  used  by  Boirac  ^  in  preference  to  the 
older  usage  of  the  word  "telepathy"  to  designate  the 
ensejjible  of  different  phenomena  known  as  second 
sight,  clairvoyance,  divination,  presentiments,  mental 
suggestion,  etc.  These  phenomena,  in  their  turn  di- 
vide in  a  telepathic  and  a  telaesthetic  group.  In  gen- 
eral telepathy  denotes  "the  ability  of  one  mind  to  im- 
press or  to  be  impressed  by  another  mind  otherwise  than 
through  the  recognized  channels  of  sense,"  "  or  "the  com- 
munication of  impressions  of  any  kind  from  one  mind  to 
another  independently  of  the  recognized  channels  of 
sense."  ^  Boirac  defines  telepathy  as  "the  action  of 
transference  of  thought  from  one  person  to  another  by 
the  exercise  of  the  will."^  This  definition  is  not  very 
clear,  and,  furthermore,  does  not  express  what  es- 
sentially should  be  the  distinguishing  mark  between 
telepathy  in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  term  and  thought- 
transference,  viz.,  that  in  the  former  the  impressions 
seem  to  be  conveyed  spontaneously  and  even  uncon- 
sciously (or  we  think,  rather,  subconsciously)  on  the 
part  of  the  transmitter,  whereas  in  thought-transference 
the  will  and  conscious  effort  to  impress  another  mind  is 
the  distinguishing  characteristic.^  Of  course,  we  may 
here  be  distinguishing  where  no  distinction  should  be 

'"Our  Hidden  Forces,"  pp.  178-179. 

^  Gurney,  "Phantasms  of  the  Living"  vol.  I,  p.  6. 

'  Mvers,  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  I,  p.  21. 

'Op.  cit.,  p.  178. 

'■  Dr.  Grasset  makes  this  distinction.  "It  is  easy  to  perceive  the  re- 
Bemblance,  as  well  as  the  differences,  existing  between  mental  suggestion 
and  telepathy.  Telepathy  is  also  a  thought  transference,  but  it  is  a 
transference  at  a  long  distance,  whilst  in  mental  suggestion,  both  sub- 
jects are  quite  near  each  other.  Besides  (and  this  is  more  important) 
in  mental  suggestion  the  transmitting  subject  is  active;  he  does  not  inter- 
fere in  telepathy.  This  is  so  important  that  we  shall  see  cases  in  which 
mental  suggestion  is  practiced  at  more  or  less  great  distance,  although  it 
does  not  become  telepathy  because  the  physical  effort  is  made  by  the  sug- 
gesting subject." — "The  Marvels  beyond  Science,"  p.  321. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  199 

made,  but  it  should  be  borne  in  mind  that  so  far  we  are 
deahng  only  with  terms  of  convenience ,  referring  to 
certain  facts  or  grouj^s  of  facts  such  as  they  appear  to 
us. 

The  telaesthetic  phenomena  consist  in  clairvoyance 
and  clairaudience.  Myers  defines  tela^sthesia  as 
"sensation  at  a  distance"  in  distinction  to  telepathy, 
which  is  "fellow-feeling  at  a  distance." '  The  terms 
clairvoyance,  clairaudience,  etc.,  vary  according  to  the 
sense  corresponding  with  the  sensation  perceived. 

We  shall  now  turn  to  a  review  of  the  evidence  for 
what  we  consider  the  facts  indicating  the  phenomena  de- 
scribed in  our  terminology. 

The  evidence  for  the  facts  pointing  to  the  telepathic 
phenomena  divides  into  two  kinds,  the  one  including 
spontaneous  cases  of  telepathic  manifestations  (telep- 
athy proper),  the  other  embracing  the  results  of  ex- 
perimental investigation  (thought-transference).  Both 
kinds  offer  an  abundance  of  material,  which  is  con- 
stantly growing. 

The  spontaneous  cases  capable  of  verification  con- 
sist mainly  in  apparitions  of  the  living  (including  those 
at  the  moment  of  death),  and  in  veridical  auditory 
hallucinations.  The  main  collections  of  these  cases,  to 
which  we  here  refer,  are  those  of  Messrs.  Gurney,  Pod- 
more  and  Myers  in  "Phantasms  of  the  Living"  and  the 
report  on  the  so-called  Census  of  Hallucinations,  under- 
taken under  the  auspices  of  the  Society  for  Psychical 
Research,  which  is  found  in  the  tenth  volume  of  the 
Proceedings  of  the  Society.^  Additional  cases  will  be 
found  in  Podmore's  'Apparitions  and  Thought- 
Transference"  in  the  publications  of  the  two  Societies 
for  Psychical  Research,  in  the  Annates  des  Sciences 
Psychiques,  etc.  ■ 


^  "Human  Personality  "  vol.  i,  p.   136. 
^  English. 


200  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

The  report  on  the  Census  Hallucinations  shows  that 
out  of  17,000  persons  questioned,  and  with  deduction 
of  affirmative  answers  referring  to  dreams,  inarticulate 
sounds,  and  hallucinations  during  illness  known  to  pro- 
duce delirium,  there  remained  1,684  cases  of  hallucina- 
tions in  the  normal  waking  state,^  350  of  which  were 
recognized  apparitions  of  living  persons. ■  Of  these 
sixty-five  were  death  coincidences.  The  findings  of 
the  census  takers,  when  summed  up,  give  a  ratio  of 
cases,  showing  a  probable  relation  between  cause  and 
effect,  of  one  in  fortj^-three,  while  cases  due  to  coin- 
cidence would  be  about  one  in  nine  thousand,^  which 
would  be  about  440  times  less  than  the  ratio  of  cases  re- 
corded. The  calculations  would  show  that  the  number 
of  cases  of  death  coincidence  gathered  in  the  census  by 
far  exceeds  the  probabilities  of  chance,  and  offer  proof 
for  the  existence  of  a  logical  nexus  between  the  actual 
occurrence  and  the  hallucination  received. 

Besides  cases  of  death  coincidence  there  are  those  of 
apparition  of  persons  in  danger  of  accidents  or  ap- 
proaching the  recipient.  These  cases,  recorded  in  the 
works  above  referred  to,  are  sufficiently  numerous,  and 
present  sufficiently  strong  and  verifiable  evidence  of 
coincidence  between  the  actual  occurrence  and  the 
hallucination  to  bespeak  a  nexus  between  the  two.  The 
hallucinations  are  not  always  visual,  i.  e.,  do  not  always 
take  the  form  of  apparitions,  but  may  sometimes  be 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  x:39. 

=  Ibid.,  p.  246. 

^  Making  allowance  for  exaggeration,  selection,  and  cases  known  be- 
forehand liy  the  collector,  the  report  reduces  the  evidential  number  of  cases 
of  death-coincidence  from  65  to  32.  (Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  x: 242-243). 
In  order  to  compare  the  total  number  of  recognized  apparitions  of  the 
living  with  that  of  death  coincidences  allowance  is  made  for  forgetfulness, 
and  the  figure  350  (marking  recognized  apparitions  of  the  living)  is  raised 
to  1,300,  giving  a  ratio  of  about  1  in  43  (Proceedings,  .S'.  P.  R.,  x: 63-65, 
247 1 .  On  the  basis  of  the  average  annual  death  rate  in  England  and 
Wales,  according  to  the  official  report  of  1890,  it  is  calculated  that  the 
probability  for  the  death  of  any  one  person  taken  at  random  is  about  1 
in  19,000.  Consequently,  out  of  every  19,000  apparitions  of  living  per- 
sons there  should  l)e  one  chance  coincidence. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  201 

aiiditoiy,  when  the  voice  of  the  agent  is  recognized  by 
the  recipient.  This  variation,  however,  is  of  no  particu- 
lar importance  in  the  evidence  for  telepathy. 

The  more  striking  cases  presented  in  the  report,  as 
well  as  those  found  in  "Phantasms  of  the  Living ,"  are 
too  well  known  to  need  restatement,  and  have  been  ad- 
mirabh^  gathered  and  presented  by  Mr.  Podmore.^ 
They  will  also  be  found  referred  to  and  quoted  at  con- 
siderable length  in  "Human  Personality." 

We  have  dealt  with  veridical  hallucinations  as  oc- 
curring between  an  agent  and  one  percipient;  the  rec- 
ords, however,  also  show  cases  where  several  percipi- 
ents simultaneously  have  had  the  same  hallucination. 
No  less  than  95  collective  visual  hallucinations  are  re- 
corded in  the  Census  report,  among  which  67  took  the 
form  of  realistic  appearance  of  the  human  figure.  Of 
these  27  represented  living  persons,"  and  there  was  a 
sufficient  number  of  an  intensity  warranting  their  real 
occurrence. 

Are  the  collective  hallucinations  to  be  referred  among 
telepathic  manifestations  ?  At  any  rate  there  is  no  need 
for  pressing  the  telepathic  theory  to  extremes,  and  in 
cases,  especially  where  the  apparition  seemed  to  have  a 
definite  objective  existence  in  successive  positions,  it 
may  be  well  to  leave  the  question  open." 

The  experimental  cases  include  the  conveyance  of 
impressions  to  a  percipient  both  in  the  normal  waking 
and  in  the  hypnotic  state,  referred  to  as  thought-trans- 
ference or  mental  suggestion. 

Beginning  with  experiments  with  a  percipient  in  the 
normal  waking  state  we  shall  find  that  in  the  early 
stages  of  investigation  they  usually  took  place  with  the 
agent  and  the  percipient  in  the  same  room.     Accounts 

^  Studies,  etc.,  pp.  234-267. 
^  Podmore,  Studies,  etc.,  pp.  261-62. 

*  See  Sir  William  F.  Barrett,  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,"  p. 
157. 


202  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

will  be  found  in  early  volumes  of  the  Proceedings  of  the 
Society  for  Psychical  Research  and  in  "Phantasms  of 
the  Living  J"  ^ 

In  1883  Mr.  Guthrie,  of  Liverpool,  conducted  a  long 
series  of  experiments  with  two  percipients  and  a  group 
of  agents,  each  of  whom,  when  alone  with  one  or  other 
of  the  percipients,  was  successful  in  transferring  his 
impressions.-  The  ideas  transferred  were  of  colors, 
geometrical  figures  and  objects  of  all  descriptions,  and 
the  percipients  would  make  diagrammatical  reproduc- 
tions of  their  impressions,  which  now  may  be  compared 
with  the  reproductions  of  the  corresponding  ideas  in  the 
mind  of  the  agent.  In  spite  of  due  proportion  of  fail- 
ures the  result  is  very  striking.^ 

In  1893  Mrs.  A.  W.  Verrall  experimented  with  her 
daughter,  then  between  nine  and  ten  years  old.  They 
were  sitting  in  the  same  room,  back  to  back,  and  the  re- 
cipient both  described  and  drew  what  she  visualized. 
Out  of  nine  experiments  four  were  successful,  two 
failed  to  give  any  impression  whatever,  two  more  failed 
when  the  agent's  power  of  visualizing  was  weak,  one 
was  doubtful.^ 


'Professor  Barrett  (now  Sir  William)  read  a  paper  on  experiments  in 
thought  transference  with  a  hypnotized  girl  before  the  British  Association 
in  1876.  He  learned  of  other  instances  in  which  telepathy  had  been  ob- 
served in  the  normal  waking  state.  In  1881-2  he  conducted  a  series  of 
experiments  in  which  Professors  Sidgwick  and  Steward,  and  Messrs. 
Gurney  and  Myers  took  part,  and  which  seemed  to  establish  telepathic 
communication.  Since  then  experiments  have  been  conducted  in  different 
countries,  the  results  of  which  have  confirmed  Prof.  Barrett's  conclusions. 

Among  early  experiments  we  would  refer  to  those  of  Max  Dessoir  {in 
Proc,  H.  P.  R.,  iv:lll  and  v:355);  Anton  Schmoll  and  Etienne  Mabie 
(Ibid.,  iv:324  and  v:169);  J.  W.  Smith  {Ibid.,  ii:207);  Oliver  Lodge 
{Ibid.,  vii:374);  A.  Blair  Thaw  {Ibid.,  viii:422);  v.  Schrenck-Notzing 
{Ibid.,  vii:8);    Ch.  Richet    {Ibid.,  v:18). 

We  also  refer  to  the  record  in  "Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  vol.  I,  pp. 
32-34  and  vol.  II,  pp.  653-654.  See  also  Podmore,  "Apparitions  and 
Thought   Transference,"  especially  chapter  V. 

^  "Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  vol.  I,  pp.  36-58. 

'  For  experiments  by  Mr.  Henry  G.  Rawson  see  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R., 
xi:2-17.  The  method  of  diagrams  was  employed  and  the  results  were 
good. 

*  Podmore,  Studies,  etc.,  pp.  206-211  (partly  taken  from  Proceedings, 
»Sf.  P.  R.,  vol.  xi.) 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  203 

Dr.  Quintard  records  the  case  of  a  healthy  boy  five 
years  of  age  who  was  able  to  solve  complicated  mathe- 
matical problems  instantly,  and  although  ignorant  of 
any  foreign  language  would  solve  problems  presented 
to  him  in  English,  Latin,  Greek  or  Spanish.  But  his 
powers  failed  him  completely  in  the  absence  of  his 
mother  or  when  she  was  unable  to  solve  the  problem  pre- 
sented. Evidently  this  case  shows  an  "involuntary  ex- 
periment" in  thought-transference  between  mother  and 
child.^ 

The  experiments  conducted  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  and 
Miss  Alice  Johnson^  include  one  series  of  126  attempts, 
giving  over  26%  successes,  56 7^^^  wrong  impressions,  and 
more  than  IT^t'  cases  without  impression.  Of  the  126 
attempts  71  were  made  with  agent  and  percipient  in 
the  same  room  and  the  result  was  45%  successes,  37% 
failures,  and  18%  cases  without  impression.  The  result 
in  the  remaining  55  cases,  when  the  agent  and  the  per- 
cipient were  in  different  rooms,  was  47^  successes,  80% 
failures,  and  16%  cases  with  no  impression. 

Among  more  recent  experiments  those  of  Miss 
Clarissa  Miles  and  Miss  Hemiione  Ramsden  con- 
ducted in  the  fall  of  the  years  1905  and  1906  are  of  par- 
ticular interest  on  account  of  the  distance  between 
agent  and  recipient.'^  The  first  series  included  fifteen 
experiments  at  a  distance  of  twenty  miles,^  and  shows 
33%  successes,  while  the  second  series,  undertaken  when 
the  two  ladies  were  separated  by  about  400  miles,  re- 
sulted in  four  successful  cases  out  of  fifteen,  or  27% 


^Annates  des  Sciences  Psychiqiies  for  Nov.,  Dec,   1894. 

-  "Experiments  in  Thought  Transference,"  in  Proceedings,  »Sf.  P.  R., 
viii:  536-597. 

^  "Experiments  in  Thought  Transference,"  by  Clarissa  Miles  and 
Hermione  Ramsden   in  Proceedings,   8.  P.  R.,  xxi:  60-93. 

■•Except  in  the  case  of  the  15th  experiment  when  agent  was  in  Monaco 
and  recipient  in  England. 


204  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

successes.'  The  thought  selected  for  transmission  often 
consisted  in  vague  ideas,  but  the  best  successes  were  ob- 
tained only  when  objects  actually  seen  or  events  and 
scenes  transpiring  before  the  agent  were  chosen.^ 

Still  more  striking  results  have  been  shown  when  the 
percipient  has  been  in  a  hypnotic  state.  The  experi- 
ments conducted  by  Professor  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick  with 
Mr.  Smith  in  1899  exhibit  a  large  proportion  of  success- 
ful cases. ^  Trials  were  made  with  numbers,  agent  and 
recipient  being  in  the  same  room,  and  out  of  644  at- 
tempts there  were  117  correct  impressions.  Similar  re- 
sults were  obtained  with  mental  images  when  agent  and 
recipient  were  in  different  rooms.^ 

In  a  later  series  undertaken  by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  and 
Miss  Johnson  the  percipient  was  a  young  lady  who  had 
been  hypnotized.  Numbers  of  two  digits  were  selected 
for  transference,  and  during  the  whole  series  agent  and 
percipient  were  in  different  rooms.''  Out  of  2.52  trials 
belonging  to  one  series  27  met  with  complete  and  116 
with  partial  success — i.  e.,  the  digits  were  either  re- 
versed or  one  digit  only  was  correctly  given. 

'  First  Series     o  successes      33% 

3  failures    20% 

2  partial    successes    13% 

2  partial  failures   13% 

1  probable   success 7% 

Second  Series  4  successes      27% 

7  doubtful    cases     47% 

2  partial   .successes     13% 

2  neutral  cases    13% 

*  For  other  experiments  at  long  distance  see  "Apparitions  and  Thought 
Transference,"  passim,  Journal,  »S'.  P.  R.,  April,  Oct.,  Nov.,  1896.  Proceed- 
ings, 8.  P.  R.,  vi  and  xi. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vi:  128-170,  and  viii: 554-577. 

*  Professor  Sidgwick  has  answered  Messrs.  Lehmann's  and  Hansen's 
criticism  implying  that  the  results  of  the  experiments  could  be  explained 
by  unconscious  faint  whispering  with  closed  lips  by  saying,  1.  that  it  has 
not  Vjeen  sho\vn  that  such  whispering  does  take  place  involuntarily;  2, 
that  to  assume  it  would  argue  hypersesthesia  of  the  hearing  in  the  agent 
which  was  not  found;  3,  that  the  circumstances  did  not  always  allow  of 
the  possibility  of  conveying  intelligence  by  whispering  since  the  subjects 
part  of  the  time  were  in  different  rooms.  (Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xii:298, 
etc.) 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  viii: 536-597. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  205 

We  have  also  examples  of  induction  of  hypnotism 
from  a  distance.  In  1885  and  1886  Professor  Pierre 
Janet  and  Dr.  Gilbert  were  experimenting  with  Mme. 
B.  and  succeeded  repeatedly  in  putting  her  to  sleep 
from  a  distance  at  times  as  long  as  a  mile.  She  would 
then  be  able  to  tell  who  was  her  hypnotizer.  Mr.  Myers 
treats  of  these  experiments  at  some  length  in  Human 
Personality.^ 

Dr.  Boirac  tells  of  some  very  interesting  cases  of  in- 
ducing hypnotic  sleep  from  a  distance  in  a  subject  en- 
tirely unaware  of  the  experiment,"  which  was  repeated 
several  times  quite  successfully.  Later  experiments 
with  his  usual  subjects  conducted  between  the  years 
1894  and  1896  convinced  him  that  "the  phenomenon  of 
'sleep  provoked  at  a  distance,'  by  mental  action  only,  as 
well  as  the  'waking  from  a  distance,'  "  could  be  "pro- 
duced as  often  as  desired." 

Such  are  the  types  of  evidence  adduced  to  prove  the 
existence  of  the  facts  pointing  to  telepathic  phenomena. 
The  spontaneous  phenomena  of  apparitions  and  voices 
of  the  living  can  not  reasonably  be  denied  in  the  face 
of  the  mass  of  evidence  which  has  been  gathered.  We 
have  dealt  with  phantasms  of  the  living  to  exclude  any 
hypothesis  of  "the  dead  coming  back."  There  are  only 
two  possible  explanations — since  it  must  be  admitted 
that  chance  coincidence  could  not  adequately  cover  the 
ensemble  of  evidence — either  we  must  admit  some  sort: 
of  extra-sense  communication  between  mind  and  mind,, 
unconsciously  produced  by  the  transmitter,  or  we  must 
accept  the  phenomena  as  indicating  the  objective  pres- 
ence of  his  externalized  double.     But  the  induced  phe- 


^  Myers,  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  I,  pp.  524-529.  For  reports  see 
Phantasms  of  the  Living,  vol.  II,  pp.  679-683;  Bulletins  de  la  Societe  de 
Psychologie  Physiologique,  Tome  I,  p.  24;  Revue  Philosophique,  Aug.  1886. 
Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  iv:  131-137  and  v:43-45. 

For  further  cases  see  Proceedings,  »S'.  P.  R.,  v:222,  223,  vi:411  et  seq., 
ix:216;  Revue  de  I'Hypnotisme,  Feb.  1888,  "Phantasms  of  the  Living," 
vol.  II,  pp.  683,  685,  332,  etc. 

''"Our  Hidden  Forces,"  pp.   168-170. 

^  Op.  cit.,  pp.  170-171;  for  a  description  of  cases  see  pp.  171-177. 


206  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

nomena  of  thought  transference  give  no  indications  of 
verifying  the  latter  hypothesis.  On  the  contrary  they 
strongly  point  to  a  verification  of  the  former  which  thus 
would  satisfy  both  the  spontaneous  and  the  induced 
cases,  and  consequently  be  the  only  one  which  can 
logically  be  accepted. 

The  actuality  of  thought  transference  as  we  have  de- 
fined the  term  has  been,  and  is,  denied  by  a  number  of 
scientists  chiefly  on  the  ground  that  their  own  experi- 
ments have  failed.^  But  it  is  difficult  to  understand  this 
attitude.  The  evidence  furnished  by  experiments  which 
have  succeeded  can  not  be  overthrown  by  any  number 
of  failures,  unless  it  can  be  shown  that  what  was  re- 
garded as  success  depended  upon  error.  We  do  not 
think  this  can  be  shown  in  the  experiments  above  re- 
ferred to.  First  of  all,  a  study  of  the  reports,  one  after 
another,  will  convince  any  candid  mind  that  we  are  not 
confronted  with  a  series  of  chance  coincidences  and 
guesses.  The  experiments  with  numbers  alone  would 
be  sufficient  to  carry  this  conviction.  That  other  causes 
such  as  judgment  from  gestures,  speech,  facial  expres- 
sions, sound  from  the  movement  of  the  pencil  on  the 
paper,  whispering  with  closed  lips,  etc.,  must  be  ex- 
cluded in  cases  of  experiments  conducted  with  agent 
and  percipient  in  different  rooms,  and,  a  fortiori,  in 
different  localities,  is  self-evident. 

Boirac  denies  thought  transferences  but  at  the  same 
time  admits  that  psychic  force  can  be  transmitted  from 
one  individual  to  another  without  physical  contact." 
This,  however,  does  not  affect  our  facts;  it  merely  ad- 
vances a  more  definite  theory  for  their  explanation. 

For  our  own  part  we  think  that  failures  depend  upon 
our  lack  of  knowledge  of  the  laws  and  conditions  which 
govern  the  phenomena.     For  while  we  grant  that  an 

'  Grasset   ''The   Marvels   beyond   Science,"   pp.    322   et   seq   and   Coover, 
•'Experiments  in  Psychical  Research." 
'  "Our  Hidden  Forces,"  pp.  282  et  seq. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  207 

idea  has  been  conveyed  from  one  mind  to  another,  we 
do  not  know  how  it  was  conveyed,  whether  from  brain 
to  brain  by  means  of  ether  vibrations,  or  from  soul  to 
soul  without  physical  intermediary,  or  whether  by  ex- 
ternalization  of  "psychic  force."  We  do  not  know 
what  process  insures  its  transmission  from  the  agent, 
nor  its  reception  by  the  percipient.  As  a  fact,  we  know 
no  more  than  that  the  agent  tried  to  convey  the  idea 
and  that  it  was  conveyed. 

Many  with  Myers  consider  telepathy  and  thought 
transference  subliminal  or  subconscious  functions. 
There  are  indications  of  this  both  in  the  spontaneous 
and  the  experimental  cases.  The  spontaneous  cases  are 
most  strongly  provoked  by  incidents  which  would  not 
chiefly  afi^ect  the  supraliminal  mind,  such  as  acts  of 
volition  or  intellectual  activities,  but  rather  would 
arouse  the  passions  and  emotions,  which  after  all  have 
their  seat  and  source  in  the  subliminal — such  incidents 
as  death,  accidents,  approach,  and  so  forth. 

The  experimental  cases  seem  to  depend  upon  volition, 
but  this  might  well  be  a  more  remote  cause,  and  is  not 
even  necessary.  The  experiments  of  Miss  Miles  and 
Miss  Ramsden  show,  v.  g.,  that  in  the  first  case  of  the 
first  series  the  intended  idea  was  not  transmitted,  but 
the  percipient  could  "feel"  the  position  of  the  agent. 
Several  successive  cases  give  the  same  indication.  It 
is  not  the  will  to  transmit  a  particular  idea  which  sends 
it  through  space  to  the  percipient,  rather  it  is  the  in- 
tensity of  presence  of  the  image  in  the  subliminal  to- 
gether with  that  of  the  intended  percipient  which  es- 
tablishes the  necessary  nexus.  And  this  intensity  of 
presence  may  well  at  times  be  provoked  by  volition.  But 
volition  itself  is  not  an  act  of  the  subliminal.  If  we  ac- 
cept the  hj^pothesis  of  telepathic  phenomena  as  sub- 
liminal functions  we  might  go  a  step  further.  It  is  not 
only  a  question  of  transmission,  the  question  of  recep- 
tion is  also  involved.    It  depends  upon  the  intensity  of 


208  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

a  subliminal  impression  whether  it  will  rise  to  supra- 
liminal consciousness  or  not.  Moreover,  the  transition 
from  the  subliminal  to  the  supraliminal  may  be  de- 
termined by  the  degree  of  preoccupation  of  the  mind 
and  depend  upon  many  other  conditions.  The  fact  that 
hallucinations  often  do  not  exactly  coincide  in  time  with 
the  occurrence  which  they  represent  would  go  to  show 
that  the  impression  was  subliminally  received  and  later 
penetrated  to  supraliminal  consciousness.  And  the 
greater  amount  of  successes  in  experiments  with  hypno- 
tized subjects  would  coincide  with  the  fact  that  in  the 
hypnotic  state  the  normally  subliminal  is  brought  closer 
to  the  surface. 

Of  course,  in  these  matters,  we  are  dealing  with 
hypotheses  rather  than  with  facts,  but  granting  the 
hypothesis  of  telepathic  phenomena  as  subliminal  func- 
tions we  think  it  will  be  easier  to  understand  cases  of 
failure  as  arising  from  the  increased  difficulty  of  com- 
plying with  the  conditions  for  success,  and  chiefly  upon 
the  agent's  inability  to  influence  his  own  subliminal 
faculties  as  well  as  upon  lack  of  sufficient  supraliminal 
receptivity  of  subliminal  impulses  in  the  percipient. 

But  let  us  return  to  the  evidence.  The  authentic  ac- 
counts of  facts  which  lie  before  us  can  not  fail  to  prove 
the  reality  of  extra-sense  communication  between  mind 
and  mind.  On  the  other  hand,  as  Professor  Hyslop 
points  out,^  the  very  fact  that  science  is  ignorant  of  the 
laws  by  which  these  communications  are  governed 
naturally  prevents  us  from  ranking  telepathy  and 
thought  transference  among  known  phenomena  of 
nature.  We  have  not  as  yet  explained  telepathy,  which 
therefore  at  the  most  can  be  accepted  as  a  term  cover- 
ing certain  effects  which  have  been  observed  and  repro- 
duced. As  a  consequence  telepathy  does  not  explain 
phenomena  which  it  seems  to  cover,  but  merely  places 

'Hyslop,  "Science  and  a  Future  Life,"  pp.   37-41. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  209 

them  on  a  par  with  the  effects  which  the  term  itself 
embraces.  Its  value,  when  applied  to  the  phenomena 
of  Spiritism,  would,  therefore,  consist  in  furnishing  a 
negative  demonstration  in  so  far  as  it  would  explain 
away  previously  alleged  causes  of  certain  phenomena/ 
In  this  capacity  at  least,  that  is  to  say  as  a  term  indicat- 
ing a  natural  process  or  exceptional  causal  nexus  be- 
tween mind  and  mind,  telepathy  is  now  accepted  by 
men  of  eminent  scientific  training  who  base  their  ac- 
ceptance upon  facts  such  as  we  have  presented.^ 

The   evidence   for  tela^sthetic   phenomena  we   think 
is  so  abundant  and  unmistakable  that  the  fact  of  per- 


^Hyslop,  Op.  cit.,  p.  38. 

^  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  in  "Human  Personality  "  pp.  241  et  seq.  Prof.  James 
Hyslop,  in  "Science  and  a  Future  Life"  pp.  40-41 :  "My  own  present  at- 
titude, therefore,  is  that  there  is  at  present  (1905)  satisfactory  evidence 
in  favor  of  sporadic  instances  of  an  unusual  phenomenon  involving  an  ex- 
ceptional causal  nexus  between  the  thoughts  of  one  person,  the  agent,  and 
another,  the  percipient.  How  it  is  effected  I  do  not  know;  nor  do  I  know 
anything  about  its  laws  and  conditions.  ...  I  therefore  hold  to  telep- 
athy as  a  suitable  explanation,  if  such  we  may  call  it,  of  phenomena  that 
can  not  lay  claim  to  any  transcendental  origin  of  a  spiritual  kind  and 
that  represent  a  supernormal  relation  between  living  minds." 

Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  in  "The  Survival  of  Man,"  pp.  33-34:  "Physicists 
deny  action  at  a  distance,  at  least  most  of  tliem  do — -I  do  for  one;  at  the 
same  time  I  admit  telepathy."  p.  39 :  ".  .  .  the  leading  members  of 
the  London  Society  for  Psychical  Research — actuated  in  the  first  instant 
largely  by  Prof.  Barrett's  report  {in  Proc.  vol.  i) — investigated  the  mat- 
ter and  gradually  by  pertinacious  experiment  became  convinced  of  the 
reality  of  thought-transference.     .     .     ." 

Emile  Boirac  in  "Our  Hidden  Forces,"  p.  180:  "From  the  mass  of 
these  authentic  records  ("Phantasms  of  the  Living,"  Aunales  des  Sciences 
Psychiques,  giving  evidence  for  thought  transference  and  telepathy)  one 
gains  the  impression — if  not  the  conviction — that  there  seem  to  exist  cer- 
tain means  of  communication,  inexplicable  in  the  ordinary  way,  between 
individuals  often  situated  at  great  distances  from  each  other." 

Flournoy,  "Spiritism  and  Psychology,"  p.  64:  "The  late  researches  of 
Gurney,  Myers,  and  Podmore  (in  "Phantasms  of  the  Living"),  then  the 
striking  results  of  the  great  "Census  of  Hallucinations"  in  1894,  as  well 
as  a  vast  number  of  isolated  cases ;  finally,  the  varied  cases  of  transmis- 
sion of  thought,  mental  suggestion  at  a  distance,  etc.,  proved  to  Myers 
the  reality  of  telepathy." 

Sir  William  F.  Barrett,  in  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,"  p.  236, 
says  that  telepathy  is  now  largely  accepted.  And  p.  292 :  "...  it 
was  not  my  intention  here  to  treat  of  other  subjects  of  psychical  re- 
search .  .  .  some  (of  which),  like  hypnotism  and  telepathy,  are,  in 
my  opinion,  almost  as  fully  established  as  many  of  the  accepted  truths 
of  science." 


210  Spiritism  and  Psychology 

ceiving  at  a  distance  can  not  be  denied.  Swedenborg 
offers  the  classical  example  in  his  vision,  while  in 
Gotenburg,  of  the  fire  which  devoured  a  great  part  of 
Stockholm/  Experimental  cases  may  be  induced  in 
clairvoyant  subjects  by  means  of  hypnotism.  Simple 
clairvoyance  and  clairaudience  occur  in  the  waking 
state  or  in  trance,  and  consists  therein  that  a  person  is 
able  to  perceive  hidden  objects  or  scenes  at  a  distance, 
or  to  hear  as  it  were  "inner  voices"  speaking  to  him.  A 
higher  degree  of  this  ability  is  found  in  s.  c.  "psychom- 
etry"  consisting  therein  that  a  person  from  contact 
with  an  object  will  construct  its  entire  past  history  and 
that  of  persons  connected  with  it. 

We  quote  the  following  experience  of  Maurice 
Maeterlinck:-  In  September,  1913,  while  I  was  at 
Elberfield,  visiting  Krall's  horses,  my  wife  went  to 
consult  Mme.  M.,  gave  her  a  scrap  of  writing  in  my 
hand — a  note  dispatched  previous  to  my  journey  and 
containing  no  allusion  to  it- — and  asked  her  where  I  was 
and  what  I  was  doing.  Without  a  second's  hestitation, 
Mme.  M.  declared  that  I  was  very  far  away,  in  a 
foreign  country  where  they  spoke  a  language  which  she 
did  not  understand.  She  saw  first  a  paved  yard,  shaded 
by  a  big  tree,  with  a  building  on  the  left  and  a  garden 
at  the  back:  a  rough  but  not  inapt  description  of 
Krall's  stables,  which  my  wife  did  not  know  and  which 
I  myself  had  not  seen  at  the  time  when  I  wrote  the  note. 
She  next  perceived  me  in  the  midst  of  the  horses,  ex- 
amining them,  studying  them  with  an  absorbed,  anxious 
and  tired  air.  This  was  true,  for  I  found  those  visits, 
which  overwhelmed  me  with  a  sense  of  the  marvellous 
and  kept  my  attention  on  the  rack,  singularly  exhaust- 
ing and  bewildering She  made  two   rather 

'  For  examples  see :  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  "On  the  Evidence  for  Clairvoy- 
ance," in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  vii: 30-99;  Podmore,  "Studies,  etc.,"  pp. 
421-435;  Mvers,  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  I,  pp.  197,  553-559,  vol.  II, 
pp.  217,  251. 

'  "The  Unknown  Guest,"  pp.  68-70. 


Spiritism  and  Psychology  211 

curious  mistakes  in  this  experiment.  The  first  was  that, 
at  the  time  when  she  saw  me  in  Krall's  stahle-yard,  I 
was  no  longer  there Experience  shows,  how- 
ever, that  this  is  a  usual  error  among  psychometers. 
They  do  not,  properly  speaking,  see  the  action  at  the 
very  moment  of  its  performance,  but  rather  the  custo- 
mary and  familiar  action  .  .  .  ." 

Maeterlinck  also  relates  an  incident  of  clairvoyance 
of  a  future  event  occurring  in  trance :  ^  "On  the  8th  of 
May  Dr.  Teste  magnetizes  Mme.  Hortense — in  the 
presence  of  her  husband.  She  is  no  sooner  asleep  than 
she  announces  that  she  has  been  pregnant  for  a  fort- 
night, that  she  will  not  go  her  full  time,  that  she  will 
take  fright  at  something,  that  she  will  have  a  fall,  and 
that  the  result  will  be  a  miscarriage.  She  adds  that,  on 
the  12th  of  May,  after  having  had  a  fright,  she  will 
have  a  fainting  fit  which  will  last  for  eight  minutes ;  and 
she  then  describes,  hour  by  hour,  the  course  of  her  mal- 
ady, which  will  end  in  three  days'  loss  of  reason,  from 
which  she  will  recover."  On  awaking,  she  retains  no 
recollection  of  anything  that  has  passed ;  it  is  kept  from 
her;  .  .  .  ."  yet  her  prediction  comes  tiiie. 

The  value  of  teleesthesia  in  showing  that  certain  in- 
formation obtained  through  spiritistic  trance  medium.' 
need  not  be  referred  to  spirit  agency,  is  too  evident  to 
need  mention. 


^Op.  cit.,  pp.   114-115. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

Spirit  Identity. 

The  total  value  of  automatic  messages  purporting  to 
come  from  the  departed  is  not  to  be  found  in  the  pos- 
sible establishing  of  their  authenticity,  for  the  phe- 
nomena in  themselves,  quite  apart  from  the  question  of 
revelation  from  the  spirit  world,  offer  great  promises 
of  an  extended  knowledge  of  our  psychical  life.  It  is 
in  a  large  measure  from  this  point  of  view  that  they 
have  been  studied  by  those  interested  in  psychical  re- 
search, and  results  so  far  obtained,  although  often 
vague,  hold  out  good  promises  for  the  future.^ 

At  the  present,  however,  we  are  not  directly  con- 
cerned with  this  phase  of  the  psychical  phenomena,  for 
in  treating  of  Spiritism  as  a  Religion  our  primary  con- 
cern, in  so  far  as  these  phenomena  are  considered,  is  to 
measure  the  weight  of  whatever  evidence  might  be  ad- 
duced for  their  authenticity.  And  this  evidence  will  be 
found  in  the  script  or  in  the  messages  themselves. 

The  matter  generally  accepted  by  critical  authority 
as  genuine,  i.  e.,  as  transmitted  by  the  medium  from 
whatever  source  without  intention  to  deceive,  has  been 
gathered  since  the  early  days  of  Spiritism  and  occupies 
a  volume  for  our  purposes  prohibitive  of  criticism  in 
toto.  But  so  much  has  been  written  on  the  matter,  and 
so  searching  has  been  the  investigation  of  critics,  that 
certain  cases  can  be  said  to  have  been  more  or  less  uni- 
versally accepted  as  presenting  a  higher  degree  of  evi- 
dence than  the  rest.  Out  of  this  select  material  we  can 
but  draw  a  few  examples  which  to  submit  to  criticism 
on  these  pages.     The  procedure,  we  think,  will  give  a 

*  See  Presidential  address  by  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick  before  the  S.  P.  R. 
in  Proceedings,  xxii:l-19,  and  especially  pp.   16  et  seq. 


Spirit  Identity  213 

fair  expose  of  the  evidential  value  of  the  best  cases  as  a 
whole. 

The  first  George  Pelham  message  is  typical  of 
earlier  matter,  and  will,  we  think,  convince  any  one  that 
the  information  which  it  contains  could  not  have  been 
obtained  by  Mrs.  Piper  by  ordinary  means,  for  yeRYS 
before  his  death  G.  P.  had  had  a  single  sitting  with 
Mrs.  Piper,  and  at  that  time  his  name  had  been  care- 
fully concealed  from  her.  And  Mr.  Podmore  asserts 
that  there  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  she  knew  of  the 
existence  of  such  a  person.^  G.  P.  revealed  himself 
suddenly  through  Phinuit  and  gave  a  considerable 
amount  of  information  regarding  himself  which  not 
only  was  immediately  verified,  but  was  of  a  nature  to 
exclude  the  possibility  of  fishing,  of  guess-work,  or  of 
coincidence.  This  is  strongly  confirmed  in  the  subse- 
quent Howard  sittings. 

On  the  other  hand,  throughout  those  G.  P.  revela- 
tions no  knowledge  is  convej^ed  which  was  not  in  the 
present  consciousness  of  the  sitters — John  Hart  and 
the  Howards — and,  obviously,  telepathic  communica- 
tion from  these  to  subconscious  strata  of  Mrs.  Piper's 
mind  dramatically  representing  themselves  as  Phinuit 
or  G.  P.  would  fully  account  for  the  phenomena  and 
completely  dispense  with  recourse  to  the  preternatural. 

The  "Tyson"  incident  differs  from  the  foregoing  in 
that,  while  details  were  correct,  there  was  an  error  in 
time,  but  this  is  very  common  in  telepathic  and  telfes- 
thetic  impressions,  and  would  strengthen  rather  than 
weaken  the  telepathic  hypothesis. 

The  only  obstacle  to  a  natural  explanation  lies  in  the 
realistic  impersonation  of  G.  P.,  which  was  consistently 
sustained  for  a  considerable  period  of  time.  Between 
1892  and  1897  some  150  persons  had  sittings  with  Mrs. 
Piper,  among  whom  were  thirty  friends  of  G.  P.'s  in 
life,  and  out  of  these  all  but  one  were  recognized. 

^"The  Neicer  Spiritualism,"  p.  173. 


214  Spirit  Identity 

But  all  this  may  be  explained  if  we  consider,  on  the 
hypothesis  of  telej^athy,  the  strong  impression  of  G.  P. 
subconsciously  received  by  Mrs.  Piper  from  his  inti- 
mate friend,  John  Hart — that  the  G.  P.  character  such 
as  known  both  consciously  and  subconsciously  by  John 
Hart  in  all  its  completeness  was  conveyed  to  Mrs.  Piper 
with  a  force  proportionate  to  the  clearness,  vividness 
and  accuracy  with  which  it  was  contained  in  John 
Hart's  mind,  and  consequently  produced  an  impres- 
sion of  a  depth,  clearness,  vividness  and  accuracy  suffi- 
cient to  create  a  "secondary  personality"  which  could 
subsequently  be  brought  back  from  her  subconscious 
memory.  This  would  explain  the  consistency  of  the 
impersonation  and  dispense  with  the  necessity  of  a  re- 
peated reproduction  of  G.  P.  from  the  minds  of  his 
friends  present  at  subsequent  sittings.  It  would  also 
explain  the  easy  and  accurate  discovery  of  the  friends 
by  the  bond  of  identity  or  at  least  close  similarity  ex- 
isting between  the  "G.  P.  personality"  in  Mrs.  Piper's 
mind  and  that  consciously  retained  in  the  mind  of  the 
friends.  In  our  opinion  there  is  no  need  for  having  re- 
course to  an  objective  G.  P.  personality  revealing  it- 
self through  the  mind  or  organs  of  Mrs.  Piper. 

The  most  interesting  cases  in  a  study  of  apparent 
spirit  identity  are  found  in  the  soi-disant  controls  of  de- 
parted who  in  their  life  had  been  closely  connected  with 
Psychical  Research.  Mr.  Edmund  Gurney  died  in  the 
summer  of  1888  and  in  that  year  a  certain  lady  claimed 
his  control.  He  appeared  in  Mrs.  Piper's  trances  the 
following  year  during  her  sittings  with  Professor 
James  who  failed,  however,  to  see  the  slightest  inner 
verisimilitude  in  the  impersonation.^    Sir  Oliver  Lodge, 

^  Prof.  James  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  v:656:  "It  was  bad  enough, 
and  I  confess  that  the  human  being  in  me  was  so  much  stronger  than 
the  man  of  science,  that  I  was  too  disgusted  with  Pliinuit's  tiresome 
twaddle  even  to  note  it  down.  When  later  the  phenomena  developed  into 
pretended  direct  speech  from  Gurney  himself,  I  regretted  this,  for  a  com- 
plete record  would  have  been  useful.  I  can  now  merely  say  that  neither 
then,  nor  at  any  other  time,  was  there,  to  my  mind,  the  slightest  inner 
verisimilitude  in  the  impersonation." 


Spirit  Identity  215 

during  sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  1889-90,  also  had 
messages  purporting  to  come  from  Gurney/  but  their 
contents  at  times  are  utterly  unlike  anything  we  would 
expect  from  so  eminent  a  man.    This  for  example :  ^ 

Lodge:  "Gurney,  what  about  those  table-tilting  and 
physical  things?    Is  there  anything  in  them?" 

G. :  "Mostly  fraud.  The  rest  electricity.  A  per- 
son's nerves  are  doing  they  don't  know  what.  They 
are  often  not  conscious  when  they  move  things."  .... 

L.:  "And  what  about  those  Indian  tricks?  Mango 
and  basket  tricks?" 

G. :  ".  .  .  .  you  mean  that  cutting  up  a  child  and 
flinging  its  legs  and  arms  about." 

L.:     "Yes,  that's  one  of  them." 

G. :  "It  is  a  veil.  Lodge,  an  ethereal  veil  between 
the  thing  and  the  spectators.  They  can't  see  what 
really  happens.  It's  a  delusion,  it's  done  through 
ether.  It's  not  true  spiritualism,  it's  a  gap  in  ether. 
But  true  spiritualism  has  been  real  ever  since  the  first 
life  that  had  any  humanity  in  it." 

On  this  Sir  Oliver  remarks:^  "The  casual  reference 
of  unknown  phenomena,  part  to  fraud,  the  rest  to 
'electricity,'  though  quite  common  with  uneducated  peo- 
ple, was  especially  unworthy  of  Edmund  Gurney  .... 
In  Phantasms  of  the  the  Living  he  writes  humorously 
of  the  excellent  people  who  are  ready  to  jump  lightly 
from  the  hypothesis  of  'fraud'  to  that  of  'electricity,' 
and  suggests  that  they  are  equally  innocent  of  either 
from  energy!" 

The  Gurney  control  in  the  script  of  Mrs.  Verrall  and 
Mrs.  Forbes,^  who  both  had  known  Efdmund  Gurney, 
has  no  evidential  value.      Regarding  Mrs.   Holland's 


'  8ee  Proceedings,  »S'.  P.  R.,  xxiii:]45  et  seq. 
=  Ibid.,  p.   156. 
^'Ibid.,  p.  159. 

*  Proceedings.  S.   P.  R.,  xx:102.   220,  223,  226,  229,  231,  244,  254,  257, 
263,  266,  269,  270,  275,  305-307.  39.5,  408.  415,  427. 


216  Spirit  Identity 

Gurney  control  Sir  William  Barrett  pronounces  it 
singularly  characteristic  of  his  temperament/  while 
Podmore  concludes  his  analysis  of  the  case  by  saying 
that  this  control  is  marked  by  characteristics  which  are 
wholly  irreconcilable  with  the  character  of  the  great 
man  as  he  was  known  in  life."  It  should  be  noted  that 
]Mrs.  Holland  had  never  known  him. 


Professor  Henry  Sidgwick  died  in  the  summer  of 
1900  and  his  control  appeared  in  the  utterances  of  Mrs. 
Thompson  in  the  beginning  of  the  following  year,^  and 
later  in  the  script  of  Mrs.  Verrall.  His  alleged  com- 
munications through  other  mediums  are  of  less  interest. 

Mr.  Piddington,  who  was  present  when  the  Sidgwick 
control  made  its  first  appearance,  writes*  that  he  "felt 
that  he  was  indeed  speaking  with  and  hearing  the  voice 
of  the  man  whom  (he)  had  known."  Subsequent 
automatic  writing  under  this  control  bears  a  very  strik- 
ing resemblance  to  Professor  Sidgwick' s  writing,  which 

^  Sir  William  F.  Barrett,  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,'"  pp.  201- 
202:  "The  hypothesis  that  these  messages  are  due  to  dramatic  creations 
of  Mrs.  Holland's  subliminal  self  becomes  increasingly  difficult  to  believe 
when  we  find  other  wholly  different  types  of  messages  purporting  to  come 
from  Mr.  Ed.  Gurney  and  the  Hon.  Rodin  Noel,  who  were  also  entirely  un- 
known to  Mrs.  Holland.  When  they  were  on  earth  I  knew  these  dis- 
tinguished men  personally,  and  was  in  frequent  correspondence  with  each 
of  them ;  hence  from  my  own  knowledge  I  can  affirm  that  these  communi- 
cations are  singularly  characteristic  of  the  respective  and  diverse  tempera- 
ments of  each." 

-  Podmore,  "The  Newer  Spiritualism"  p.  202:  "The  Gurney  control 
wlio  communicates  through  Mrs.  Holland  is  of  another  type.  His  con- 
stant exhortations  addressed  to  the  automatist  are  marked  by  an  im- 
patience and  lirusquerie,  verging  on  actual  discourtesy,  which  are  quite  ir- 
reconcilable with  the  demeanor  of  the  Edmund  Gurney  whom  his  friends 
knew." 

Before  receiving  the  Gurney  messages  Mrs.  Holland  had  read  Myers' 
"Human  Personality,"  in  which  there  is  frequent  reference  to  Edmund 
Gurney   (see  Barrett,  Op.  cit.,  p.   199). 

For  tlie  Gurney  control  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script  see  "Proceedings, 
S.  P.  /?.,  xxi:  177-184,  191-194,  230-236,  241,  255,  271,  272-279,  291-295, 
327-365. 

•'January   11th,   1901. 

*  Proceedings,  »Sf.  P.  R.,  xviii  :236-237. 


Spirit  Identity  217 

Mrs.  Thompson  is  certain  she  has  not  seen.^  Podmore, 
however,  who  does  not  think  it  excluded  that  she  un- 
consciously might  have  seen  writing  from  his  pen,  con- 
cludes "  that  "The  substance  of  the  communications  con- 
tained nothing  of  an  evidential  nature;  and  (that)  some 
of  the  remarks  accredited  to  the  Sidgwick  control  im- 
press one  strongly  as  appropriate  to  the  mind  of  the 
medium  rather  than  to  the  mind  purporting  to  com- 
municate." 

The  Sidgwick  communications  in  Mrs.  Verrall's 
script^  show  a  superior  characterization,  but  this  is  not 
beyond  what  we  would  expect  since  Mrs.  Verrall  knew 
Professor  Sidgwick  well.  Of  evidential  value  there  is 
very  little,  and  test  cases  presented  by  the  control  were 
complete  failures.     We  shall  refer  to  one  of  these. 

On  October  7th,  1903,  it  was  stated  in  Mrs.  Verrall's 
script  that  "Henry  Sidgwick's  message,"  previously  al- 
luded to,  was  about  three  letters  kept  together.  Some 
further  references  to  the  letters  then  followed,  and  at- 
tempts were  made  to  give  the  contents  of  a  letter  dated 
June  9th,  1872.  But  no  one  seemed  to  know  of  such  a 
letter.  On  October  12th,  the  script  contained:  "It  was 
arranged  that  he  should  refer  to  these  three  letters"; 
but  there  was  no  reference  to  names.  Then,  on  Decem- 
ber 2oth  and  26th,  the  script  stated  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
would  know  about  the  three  letters,  and  later — January 
29th — "The  letters  are  kept  by  some  one — those  we  told 
of — you  have  not  asked  the  right  person."  But  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  was  unable  to  make  anything  of  the  various 
references.^ 


The  appearance  of  the  F.  W.  H.  INIyers  control  after 
the  death  of  the  great  scholar  so  prominent  in  circles 

^  See  comparison  of  writing  in  Op.  cit.,  pp.  238-243. 

^  "The  Netver  Spiritualism,"  p.  203. 

''Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xx:26,  277-279,  295-298,  300,  301,  331,  332. 

*  Ibid.,  pp.  295-296. 


218  Spirit  Identity 

connected  witli  Psychical  Research  could  not  fail  to 
arouse  great  interest,  and  there  is  a  considerable  abund- 
ance of  communications  purporting  to  come  from  this 
direction,  the  best  of  which  are  found  in  the  scrij^t  of 
Mrs.  Holland,  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mrs.  Piper.  The  evi- 
dential value  of  the  communications  of  the  Myers- 
Holland  control  Ms  of  a  purely  negative  character  in  so 
far  as  they  clearly  point  to  the  medium's  subconscious 
Self  as  their  source.  The  following  communication 
from  the  Myers  control  appears  in  Mrs.  Holland's 
script  of  November  19th,  1905: 

M. :  "It  is  perhaps  unfair  to  state  that  ....  is  too 
credulous,  but  his  j^eculiar  constitution  of  mind  leads  it- 
self to  the  machinations  of  fraud.  In  matters  of  this 
kind  the  Scientific  mind  is  the  poorest  guide  imaginable. 
The  phenomena  that  will  shortly  be  induced  are  utterly 
misleading.  They  will  not  be  completely  fraudulent — 
at  least,  not  consciously  so — but  the  influence  will  be  of 
the  poltergeist  type,  and  the  lowest  forms  of  physical 
magnetism  will  be  called  upon  to  produce  what  the 
agent  in  question  will  announce  as  physical  manifesta- 
tions. No  levitation  but  the  movement  without  contact 
will  be  of  the  lowest  class — not  the  back  of  the — (The 
impulse  to  write  was  so  strong  that  I  obeyed  it  in  spite 
of  knowing  that  I  should  soon  be  interrupted — and  at 
this  point  the  interruption  came.)" 
Monday,  Nov.  20th,  1905,  9:15  a.  m. 

M. :     "Brief  day  and  bright  day  and  sunset  red 

Early  in  the  evening  the  stars  are  overhead — 
Myriads    of    intended    messages    break    off 

short. 
Broken  threads  are  hard  to  knit  again — 
"The  properties  apertaining   {sic)   to  the  decej^tion 
will  be  daringly  simple.  The  old  familiar  trickery  which 

"-  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:177-184,  191-219,  221-223,  224,  230-240,  241, 
242,  245-249,  252-256,  272-283,  291-295,  365-367. 
'Ibid.,  pp.  273-274. 


Spirit  Identity  219 

is  so  old  it  has  almost  been  abandoned  in  favor  of  more 
elaborate  appliances. 

"There  will  be  a  piece  of  elastic  in  his  left  shirt 
sleeve — No — nothing  so  elaborate  as  a  pneumatic 
glove.  The  table  will  be  without  openings  or  traps  of 
any  kind — that  is  to  say  in  the  upper  part  but  insist 
on  observing  where  the  legs  join  the  frame. 

"The  luminous  paste  is  an  invention  of  his  own." 

Here  follows  a  communication  by  the  Gurney  con- 
trol in  the  same  vein,  and  then: 

"Palladia — Mrs.  Eustace  Lucas — Annie  Bird — 
Euphronia — Katie  King — Eustonia — Pallonia  .  .  .  ." 

The  whole  message  is  a  reference  to  the  physical  phe- 
nomena and  evidently  in  part  to  Eusapia  Palladino. 
On  December  1st,  the  script  continues:^ 

M. :      " I    am    anxious — From    an    apparent 

trifle  may  rise  the  ruin  of  all  we  have  been  working  for 
so  long. 

"Materializing  flowers  we  know  all  that  of  course, 
but  it  seems  new  to  him  and  he  has  a  strange  gift  of 
credulity. 

"There  may  be  raps  genuine  enough  of  their  kind — 
I  concede  the  raps — Poltergeist  merely — but  the 
luminous  appearances — the  sounds  of  a  semi-musical 
nature — the  flower  falling  upon  the  table — Trickery — 
trickery.  Of  course  there  can  be  no  searching.  She 
would  proffer  excellent  reasons  against  that — but  other 
precautions  can  be  taken." 
December  3rd,  10:45  p.  m. 

M. :  ".  .  .  .  Honest,  hearty  ridicule  has  a  certain 
vivifying  power  it  stirs  the  dry  bones  but  the  kind  of 
ridicule  this  would  bring  would  be  the  killing  type. 

"Have  we  endured  so  long — done  so  much  endured 
so  much  hoped  so  much  only  to  come  to  an  end  in  the 
course  of  the  year  now  coming.  It  is  a  very  sad  thought 
to  me." 


^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:276-278. 


220  Spirit  Identity 

December  5th,  Midnight. 

M. :  ".  .  .  .  She  is  no  fool  far  from  it  but  she  has 
the  power  of  befoohng — Wilson  knows  about  it. 

"Miss  J.  will  be  the  best  help  in  this  case — E.  P. 
willing  not  to  sit  near  her — but  that  can  be  easily  over- 
borne .... 

"The  trance  condition  is  partially  genuine  the  mani- 
festations are  simply  fraudulent. 

"Ask  her  to  allow  you  to  secure  each  foot  in  a  slight 
cardboard  box — case  or  cover.  She  will  refuse  for  the 
instep  does  most  of  the  phenomena  of  raps  and  move- 
ment  " 

December  7th,  11:30  p.  m. 

M. :  "The  lights  are  turned  out  and  a  screen  is 
drawn  before  the  fire — E.  P.  does  not  care  for  the  en- 
vironment it  is  not  sufficiently  simpatica  for  her.  If 
she  wore  soft  shoes  felt  shoes  there  would  be  fewer  im- 
posing raps  and  cracks.  The  toes  can  do  it  inside  the 
boot 

"Pockets — inner  pockets  will  hold  a  surprising 
amount. 

"Surely  lazy  tongs  have  been  superseded  by  some- 
thing a  little  more  modern." 


Myers  seems  gravely  concerned  with  certain  physical 
phenomena,  particularly  those  of  Eusapia  Palladino, 
about  to  occur.  But  there  is  no  reason  for  supposing 
that  the  real  Myers  has  any  connection  with  the  com- 
munications. We  have  a  twofold  basis  for  this  as- 
sumption. 

Before  quoting  the  script  in  the  Proceedings  Miss 
Alice  Johnson  informs  us^  that  she  had  received  a 
letter  from  Mrs.  Holland  dated  October  27,  1905,  in 
which  the  latter  tells  how  she  has  been  reading  a  review 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxi:272. 


Spirit  Identity  221 

of  Maxwell's  "Metaphysical  Pheno7nena"  which  ap- 
peared in  the  Spectator  on  the  seventh  of  that  month. 
The  review  gives  a  lengthy  and  detailed  treatment  of 
the  physical  phenomena  and  criticises  them  very  se- 
verely. Undoubtedly,  much  that  appeared  in  Mrs. 
Holland's  subsequent  script  may  be  traced  to  this 
source. 

The  first  references  to  fraudulent  physical  phe- 
nomena in  the  script  quoted  occurred  on  November  19, 
and  on  that  very  day  Miss  Johnson  was  engaged  in 
helping  Mr.  Feilding  in  his  preparations  for  sittings 
with  Eusapia  in  Paris  and  the  matter  of  physical  phe- 
nomena was  discussed.  Miss  Johnson  herself  believes  ^ 
that  on  this  occasion  there  might  have  been  telepathic 
communications  between  her  and  Mrs.  Holland,  which 
would,  of  course,  account  for  part  of  the  message.  The 
physical  phenomena  were,  moreover,  subject  to  con- 
siderable discussion  at  the  time,  which  all  taken  to- 
gether neutralizes  the  evidential  value  of  the  script  in 
question. 

Our  second  reason  for  disregarding  the  evidence  is 
found  in  a  comparison  between  the  views  on  the  sub- 
ject of  physical  phenomena  of  the  Myers  control  and  of 
the  real  Myers.  The  Cambridge  sittings  had  shaken 
Myers'  faith  in  physical  phenomena,  and  in  Eusapia, 
it  is  true,  but  later  he  had  publicly  recanted^  and  ac- 
cepted some  of  her  phenomena  as  genuine.  His  at- 
titude towards  the  whole  subject  as  expressed  in  Hu- 
man Personality  is  quite  different  from  that  of 
Myers /t.  If  after  death  he  should  have  changed  his 
mind  on  this  subject  he  would  certainly  not  have  com- 
municated it  to  Mrs.  Holland  alone,  but  nothing  of  the 
kind  occurs  in  the  script  of  other  mediums. 

These  two  points  taken  together  to  our  mind  not 
only    disprove    the    identity    of    the    communicating 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxi:274. 

==866  Myers'  letter  in  Light,  Feb.  18,  1899. 


222  Spirit  Identity 

Myers /«  with  the  real  Myers,  but  clearly  present  the 
script  in  its  essential  points  as  a  case  parallel  with  telep- 
athy between  the  living/ 

Again  we  quote  Sir  William  Barrett,"  who  refers  to 
a  communication  in  Mrs.  Holland's  earliest  scripts 
written  in  India  and  purporting  to  come  from  the  late 
Mr.  Myers.  The  script  seems  to  give  a  description  of 
Dr.  Verrall,  and  ends  as  follows:  "Send  this  to  Mrs. 
Verrall,  5,  Selwyn  Gardens,  Cambridge."  Sir  Wil- 
liam considers  that  in  this  case  "the  fetish  of  subliminal 
or  telepathic  knowledge  is  ....  hard  to  invoke 
and  becomes  absurd."  At  the  time  Mrs.  Holland,  ac- 
cording to  her  statement,  had  not  seen  and  had  no  con- 
ception of  the  address,  which  is  not  given  in  ''Human 
Personality,''  which  she  had  read.  But  Mrs.  Verrall's 
name  occurs  prominently  in  this  work,  especially  in 
connection  with  crystal  gazing  and  other  psychical  phe- 
nomena, and  could  not  well  have  escaped  the  attention 
of  Mrs.  Holland  when  reading  it,  and  it  is  not  excluded 
that  she  might  have  seen  the  address  of  so  prominent 
a  person  in  some  magazine  or  paper  dealing  with  ques- 
tions of  Psychical  Research,  and  either  failed  to  avert 
to  it  consciously  or  else  subsequently  forgotten  it.  Thus 
the  impression  could  have  been  subliminally  retained 
in  Mrs.  Holland's  mind  without  her  conscious  knowl- 
edge thereof.  Of  course,  there  is  no  proof  to  show  that 
this  is  the  explanation,  nor  is  there  any  to  convince  us 
that  it  is  not. 

Mrs.  Verrall  developed  automatic  writing  shortly 
after  Myers'  death,  and  references  to  the  contents  of  a 
sealed  envelope  which  Myers  had  left  with  Sir  Oliver 
Lodge  for  the  purpose  of  test  appeared  early  in  her 
script.     Several  references  to  Plato's  Symposium  were 

'  This  seems  to  be  the  view  taken  by  Miss  Alice  Johnson  in  her  article 
in  the  Proceedings  referred  to,  and  also  of  Mr.  Podmore  in  "The  Neioer 
Spiritualism,"  p.  206. 

'"On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,"  pp.  202-203. 


Spirit  Identity  223 

made  in  connection  with  Professor  Sidgwick  and  Mr. 
Myers.  Between  February  12th  and  April  17th,  1903, 
there  were  frequent  alkisions  to  a  letter  or  envelope 
sealed  with  a  four-lettered  inscription  on  the  seal  and 
locked  in  a  box.^  Several  times  Dr.  Hodgson's  name 
was  mentioned  in  connection  with  the  box,  who  stated, 
however,  that  he  had  no  knowledge  of  any  box  like  that 
described.  In  April  the  scrij^t  plainly  stated  that  the 
"message  inside"  was  from  the  Syinposium.  On  July 
13th,  1904,  it  was  communicated  that  the  box  referred 
to  enclosed  a  sealed  envelope  given  by  Mr.  Myers  to 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge  containing  a  passage  from  the  Sym- 
posium, and  similar  communications  were  repeated  at 
intervals.  There  was  also  reference  to  the  contents  of 
an  envelope  left  with  two  other  letters  by  Professor 
Sidgwick  with  his  wife.  When  the  envelope  which  Sir 
Oliver  Lodge  had  received  from  Mr.  Myers  was  taken 
from  the  bank  where  it  had  been  kept  in  custody  and 
opened — which  took  place  on  December  13th,  1904 — 
it  was  found  that  the  message  which  it  contained  had 
no  resemblance  to  the  passage  in  the  Symposium,  nor 
did  it  refer  to  Professor  Sidgwick.  The  whole  experi- 
ment proved  a  complete  failure.^ 

The  Myers  control  in  Mrs.  Piper's  script  is  of  great 
interest  and  has  afforded  an  abundance  of  material,  the 
best  of  which,  in  so  far  as  dramatic  vitality  and  vraisem- 
hlance  of  impersonation  is  concerned,  was  furnished 
during  her  English  sitting  in  1906  and  1907.  To  this 
we  shall  return  presently  in  connection  with  cross- 
correspondence. 

In  order  to  elicit  from  Myers  p  evidence  of  acquaint- 
ance with  a  circumstance  in  Frederic  Myers'  life  which 
would  be  unknown  to  Mrs.  Piper  and  her  sitters,  Mrs. 
Verrall,  after  some  seances  with  the  medium,  asked  Mrs. 


"^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xx:299. 

-Ibid.,  pp.  301   and  78,  79,   172,  268,  271,  272,  299-301,  327,  399,  424, 
425,  and  Journal,  S.  P.  R.,  vii:  11-13,  32. 


224  Spirit  Identity 

Sidgwick  to  give  her  some  good  question  to  be  put  to 
the  control.^  It  is  to  be  noted  that  since  1889  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  had  not  seen  JNIrs.  Piper  except  for  a  short 
visit  paid  in  December,  1906,  or  January,  1907. ■  Mrs. 
Sidgwick's  reply  of  January  19th,  1907,  reads  as  fol- 
lows :  ^ 

"I  have  not  succeeded  in  thinking  of  any  question 
which  could  be  asked  the  Myers  control,  of  which  the 
answer  is  verifiable  but  unknown  to  any  one ;  but  I  have 
thought  of  a  question  of  which  the  answer  is  known  to 
me  and  almost  certainly  unknown  to  you.  When  Mr. 
Myers  paid  his  farewell  visit  to  (my  husband)  at  Terl- 
ing  he  and  I  had  a  conversation.  It  was  out  of  doors  in 
the  porch  of  the  house.  I  am  not  sure  whether  Mr. 
Myers  had  already  seen  (INIr.  Sidgwick)  for  the  last 
time,  but  in  any  case  he  knew  that  death  must  come  be- 
fore many  days.  Mr.  Myers  sought  that  conversation 
in  order  to  talk  about  a  specific  concrete  subject,  and 
he  also  spoke  of  another  specific  concrete  subject  in  the 
course  of  the  conversation.  Can  he  remember  anything 
about  either  subject  and  what  he  said?  I  could  give 
further  clues  if  j^ou  think  it  advisable,  but  anything  I 
say  had  better  be  said  in  writing,  so  that  we  may  know 
exactly  what  it  is.  He  should  be  pressed  for  details  of 
what  he  said — more  than  a  mere  general  reference  to 
the  subject.  If  you  approve  of  the  question  and  would 
like  to  have  it  in  reserve  in  case  the  occasion  comes  for 
asking  it,  I  will  write  an  account  of  the  conversation, 
put  it  in  a  sealed  envelope  and  send  it  with  a  covering 
letter  to  Mr.  Piddington." 

The  memorandum  sent  to  JNIr.  Piddington  on  Janu- 
ary 22d,  1907,  which  remained  unopened  until  Septem- 
ber 17th  the  same  year,  read  in  part  as  follows:^ 

^  Mrs.  Henry  Sidgwick,  "An  Incident  in  Mrs.  Piper's  Trance"  in  Pro- 
ceedings, 8.  P.  R.,  xxii  :417-440. 
''Ibid.,  p.  417,  foot  note. 
Mbid.,  pp.  417-418. 
Mbid.,  p.  418. 


Spirit  Identity  225 

"In  August  1900,  when  Mr.  Myers  was  at  Terling 
Place  for  the  purpose  of  taking  leave  of  (Mr.  Sidg- 
wick),  he  sought  a  conversation  with  me  which  took 
place  out  of  doors  in  the  porch  of  the  house.  What  he 
wished  to  talk  about  was  a  memoir  of  (Mrs.  Sidgwick) . 
He  was  determined  that  one  should  be  written,  had  per- 
suaded (him)  to  write  some  reminiscences  with  a  view 
to  it,  had  at  one  time — since  the  knowledge  of  (Mr. 
Sidgwick's)  illness — intended  to  write  it  himself,  but 
had  withdrawn  from  this  on  account  of  his  own  book 
and  the  short  time  remaining  before  his  own  expected 
death.  He  had  then  talked  to  (him)  about  its  being 
M^ritten  by  Arthur  Sidgwick.  He  wanted  in  this  con- 
versation to  charge  me  with  the  task  of  inducing  (Mr. 
Arthur  Sidgwick)  to  undertake  it.  He  was  to  be  told 
that  H.  (S.)  approved,  that  F.  W.  H.  M.  desired  it, 
and  leisure   was   to   be   secured   by  ...  .    (inducing) 

him  to  resign  some  of  his  work "     The  rest  of 

the  memorandum  contains  further  particulars  referring 
to  the  subject  and  a  conversation  relating  to  the  mode 
of  burial  which  should  be  adopted,  but  to  these  matters 
no  reference  was  made  in  the  trance. 

At  her  sitting  on  January  21st,  1907,  Mrs.  Verrall 
told  Myers  p  that  she  had  a  messages  for  him,  asking 
him  if  he  remembered  having  gone  to  see  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
at  Terling  shortly  before  her  husband's  death.  To  this 
Myers  p  replied  in  the  affirmative,  and  again  questioned 
if  he  remembered  having  spoken  with  her  alone  he  an- 
swered that  he  referred  to  this.  A  subsequent  question 
as  to  the  place  of  the  conversation  he  would  not  answer 
but  asked  for  time  to  refresh  his  memory.  He  was  then 
told  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick  wanted  him  to  remember  where 
he  had  spoken  to  her  and  what  he  had  said  to  her.^ 

At  the  next  sitting  on  January  22nd,  the  Myers  p, 
although  closely  questioned  by  Mrs.  Verrall,  could  give 
no  other  information  than  that  he  believed  that  on  the 

^Op.  cit.,  p.  419. 


226  Spirit  Identity 

occasion  in  question  he  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick  had  taken 
a  M'alk  out  of  doors  near  some  green  shrubbery,  that 
he  had  told  her  that  his  own  loss,  caused  by  Sidgwick's 
death,  would  be  still  greater  than  hers,  that  he  had  re- 
ferred to  some  matter  to  be  written  by  Sidgwick  and 
placed  in  a  sealed  envelope  and  also  to  "some  work  of 
(Sidgwick's)  which  (he)  should  like  to  have  to  bring 
out  to  live."^  So  far  the  Myers  p  had  touched  upon  no 
point  about  which  Mrs.  Sidgwick  had  asked  except  the 
fact  that  the  conversation  took  place  outdoors  which 
]Mrs.  Verrall  knew.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  considers  it  very 
unlikely  that  Frederic  Myers  in  reality  had  spoken  of 
a  sealed  envelope,  and  also  that  he  had  referred  to  vm- 
finished  work  and  the  possibility  of  publishing  it.  She 
seems  to  feel  that  the  experiment  already  was  a  failure." 

The  next  sitting  (January  29th)  shows  positive  error 
on  the  part  of  Myers. ^  Mrs.  Verrall  was  of  the  opinion 
that  the  conversation  referred  to  by  Myers  p  at  the 
previous  sitting  had  not  taken  place  in  reality.  But 
this  she  does  not  tell  the  control.  The  following  com- 
munication was  made: 

M  v — "Now  tell  me  about  my  talk  with  her.  I  must 
understand  whether  I  talked  this  over  with  her  on  that 
day  or  at  some  other  time." 

Mrs.  v.— "I  will  tell  you.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  thinks 
that  on  that  day  you  and  she  said  such  things ;  ^  but  that 
was  not  what  she  wanted  you  specially  to  remember." 

Mp — "Well  if  I  am  alive  at  all  I  do  certainly  recall 
mentioning  this  to  her." 

Mrs.  V. — "Yes;  she  says  she  is  sure  that  you  spoke 
on  that  subject;  but  she  wants  you  to  recall  two  specific 
things  in  your  conversation  with  her  at  Terling  which 
led  to  action  on  her  part." 

^Op.  cit.,  pp.  420-421. 
"Ibid.,  p.  422. 
'  Ibid.,   pp.   422-42.3. 

Mil  a  foot  note  Mrs.  Verrall  remarks:  "This  was  a  mistake.  I  am 
inclined  to  think  the  contrary." 


Spirit  Identity  227 

Mp — "Let  me  think  this  over  more  carefully  and  I 
can  be  trusted  I  believe  to  reproduce  it  here  as  soon 
as  I  sufficiently  recall." 

On  February  5th  Mr.  Piddington  was  sitting  with 
Mrs.  Piper  and  the  Myers  control  appeared.^  Mr. 
Piddington  suggested  that  Myers  p  might  not  have 
caught  the  word  Terling  in  the  question  put  to  him  by 
Mrs.  Verrall  on  behalf  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  to  which 
Myers  p  replied : 

M  V — "Oh  yes,  I  positively  never  heard,  i.  e.,  to  grasp 
the  word  before.  You  are  right  in  this.  I  understand 
now  and  will  go  over  that  interview  and  if  you  refer 
to  this  I  will  give  my  answer  to-morrow." 

On  this  Mrs.  Sidgwick  remarks^  that  she  does  not 
think  that  the  cause  of  difficulty  lay  in  Myers />  not 
catching  the  word  Terling.  She  considers  the  im- 
portant point  to  be  that  the  conversation  took  place 
shortly  before  her  husband's  death,  and  the  answers  of 
Myers  p  to  Mrs.  Verrall  show  that  he  understood  this. 

The  next  day,  Mr.  Piddington  being  alone  with  Mrs. 
Piper,  the  following  communication  was  received:^ 

Mp — "I  remery  the  name  of  the  place  to  which  you 
referred  last  time  and  I  should  say  with  regard  to  it 
that  I  remember  vaguely  making  a  suggestion  to  JNIrs. 
Sidgwick  regarding  a  certain  document  which  I  thought 
she  would  find  necessary  to  be  attended  to." 

Mp — "Look  into  in  case  our  good  friend  came  over 
here.  Besides  I  referred  to  matter  pertaining  to  the 
College  if  I  remember  rightly;  also  a  library  matter 
which  she  will  recall  quicklv." 

J.  G.  P.— "Yes,  I  will  tell  her." 

Mp — "I  feel  sure  of  the  distinction  between  the 
places,  i.  e.,  my  talk  with  her  at  T.  and  my  own  house." 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  423. 
-  Ibid.,  foot  note. 
3  Ibid.,  p.  424. 


228  Spirit  Identity 

]Mrs.  Sidgwick  states  that  she  is  unable  to  recall  a7iy 
conversation  on  those  subjects  between  Myers  and  her- 
self. 

The  "library"  and  the  "document"  reappear  at  the 
sitting  of  February  13th,  at  which  Mrs.  Sidgwick  was 
present  and  introduced  in  her  own  name.^  The  Myers  p 
accepts  the  suggestion  on  the  part  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
that  the  Gurney  library  was  meant,  then  refers  to  a 
document  which  concerned  Mrs.  Sidgwick  after  her 
husband's  death  and  to  her  as  saying  that  it  did  not 
matter  so  long  as  she  gave  the  library.  "I  thought  it 
a  good  suggestion,  as  it  would  serve  as  a  memoriam." 
Rector  communicating  then  asks  if  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
understands,  and  upon  her  negative  reply  Myers /j  re- 
appears, asking  if  she  does  not  remember  a  letter  which 
he  wrote  to  her  about  it  before  he  "went  away,"  and  to 
which  she  replied  that  she  thought  the  suggestion  a 
good  one. 

Mrs.  Sidgwick  can  make  nothing  of  the  references 
to  the  "library"  and  the  "document"  and  has  no  letters 
throwing  light  upon  them.  The  reference  recurs  on 
February  20th,  when  Myers  p  urges  her  to  look  for  such 
letters  and  says:  "I  distinctly  remember  writing  you 
or  talking  with  you  and  I  believe  I  wrote  about  adding 
some  of  your  own  books  to  the  College  library."  But 
Mrs.  Sidgwick  does  not  think  it  likely  that  she  ever 
spoke  or  corresponded  with  Frederic  Myers  on  this 
subject,  and  she  is  certain  that  it  could  not  have  been 
mentioned  in  a  manner  to  make  any  particular  impres- 
sion on  either  of  them.^ 

On  March  20th  Myers  p  appeared  again  and  wanted 
to  know  if  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  who  from  now  on  was  pres- 
ent at  the  sittings,  remembered  that  he  had  made  sug- 
gestions to  her  regarding  a  will;  he  then  stated  that  he 
clearly  remembered  having  spoken  to  her  about  it  and 

^Op.  cit.,  pp.  427-428. 
=  0p.  cit.,  p.  428. 


spirit  Identity  229 

that  it  had  something  to  do  with  Professor  Sidgwick/ 
Then  again  about  his  Life :  ^ 

Mp — "Yes  and  my  advising  you  to  see  about — see 
(scrawl)  about  his  hfe." 

Mrs.  S. — "My  advising  you  to  see?" 

R^ — "I  can't  tell  you  just  what  that  word  is.  It 
sounds  like  Revnua  of  his  life  R." 

Mrs.  S. — "R,  e,  u,  n,  u,  a;  is  that  it?" 

Mp — "Yes.    It  was  to  write  it." 

Mrs.  S.— "To  write  it?"    "Yes,  I  remember." 

Then  follows  a  reference  to  the  death  of  Professor 
Sidgwick,  and  then: 

Mrs.  S. — "Yes  I  quite  understand.  Can  you  re- 
member what  you  said  about  writing  his  life?" 

M.P — "I  do  very  clearly.  I  remember  referring  to 
some  letters  and  collecting  them." 

Here  follow  some  remarks  regarding  this  work  which 
represents  the  actual  conversation  between  Frederic 
Myers  and  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  Myers  p  then  makes  men- 
tion of  Professor  Sidgwick  and  gives  a  message  from 
him.  Finally  he  promises  to  think  over  what  he  had 
said  during  the  conversation  regarding  Professor 
Sidgwick's  Life. 

After  the  sitting  Mrs.  Piper  in  her  waking  state  sev- 
eral times  referred  to  "Arthur"  and  "Eleanor"  whom 
Arthur  worked  too  hard  and  ought  to  give  a  rest.  The 
name  "Henry"  was  also  mentioned.^ 

In  a  communication  of  April  2nd  ^  Myers  p  again  re- 
fers to  the  Life.  He  recollects  having  been  willing  to 
undertake  the  task  himself,  but,  unable  on  account  of 
other  work,  that  he  had  suggested  that  Mrs.  Sidgwick 
should  collect  certain  letters  for  the  purpose,  and  that 

'Op.  cit.,  p.  428. 
=  Ibid.,  p.  429-430. 
^  Rector. 

*  Op.  cit.,  pp.  4.30-4.31.     Professor  Sidgwick's  name  was  Henry,  his  wife's 
Eleanor,  and  his  brother's  Arthur. 
^Ibid.,  pp.  431-434. 


230  Spirit  Identity 

the  proceeds  of  the  Life  should  go  to  further  a  cause 
in  which  they  were  both  interested.  Mrs.  Sidgwick's 
reply  that  she  does  not  remember  this  last  statement 
makes  him  change  and  say  that  it  may  have  applied  to 
his  own  work  instead.  He  also  refers  to  a  photograph 
appropriate  for  reproduction.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  recalls 
these  statements  to  have  been  made  in  her  conversation 
with  Myers,  except  the  reference  to  the  letters  and  to 
the  employment  of  the  proceeds  of  the  Life.  The 
photograph  she  thinks  refers  to  the  obituary  notice  of 
Professor  Sidgwick  written  by  Mj^ers  and  reproduced 
witli  a  photograph  in  the  Proceedings. 

Later  on  in  the  same  sitting  new  reference  is  made  to 
the  Life,  and  Myers  p  mentions  that  he  had  suggested 
something  about  copyright  to  her.  When  she  can  not 
recollect  this  he  explains  his  statement,  saying  that  he 
meant  copy  and  not  copyright.  He  blames  the  mistake 
on  Rector.  He  states  having  suggested  that  Arthur 
should  assist  her,  and  that  this  was  the  chief  thing  in 
their  conversation  at  Terling.  A  few  days  later  re- 
peated reference  is  made  to  Arthur  and  photographs. 

The  last  reference  to  the  Terling  conversation  at  the 
London  sittings  was  made  on  April  30th  in  the  ab- 
sence of  Mrs.  Sidgwick  and  with  Mrs.  Verrall  as  sit- 
ters.^ In  answer  to  her  explanation  of  another  question 
she  wished  Myers p  to  answer  she  received: 

Mp — "Oh  yes  I  think  I  understand  now.  It  was  a 
long  time  before  I  understood  about  Terling  the  home 
of  Lady  Ravleigh.  Tarling  where  Mrs.  Sidgwick  and 
I  talked." 

We  have  quoted  this  case  at  great  length,  but  on  the 
one  hand  we  realize  its  importance  as  a  test  case,  on  the 
other  we  feel  that  it  would  be  impossible  to  come  to  a 
conclusion  without  a  study  of  all  the  detail  involved. 

In  the  whole  series  of  communications  Myers /j  re- 
ferred to  the  following  points  which  actually  were  part 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  435. 


Spirit  Identity  231 

of  the  Terling  conversation,  viz.,  1:  That  the  conver- 
sation took  place  out  of  doors,  2 :  That  it  concerned  the 
writing  of  a  biography  of  Mr.  Sidgwick,  3 :  That  Myers 
had  been  very  anxious  that  it  should  be  written,  4 :  That 
other  impending  work  made  him  unable  to  undertake  it 
himself,  5 :  That  Arthur  Sidgwick  should  be  connected 
with  the  work. 

The  whole  communication  falls  into  two  parts,  that 
received  at  Mrs.  Piper's  sittings  with  Mrs.  Verrall  and 
with  Mr.  Piddington  in  the  absence  of  Mrs.  Sidgwick, 
and  that  received  at  her  sittings  with  Mrs.  Sidgwick. 
The  two  parts  are  very  different.  First  of  all,  only  the 
first  of  the  five  veridical  references  to  the  Terling  con- 
versation was  made  during  the  first  part  of  the  sittings 
— that  the  conversation  took  place  outdoors — and  this 
fact  was  known  to  Mrs.  Verrall.  A  number  of  other 
references  are  made,  none  of  which  can  be  remembered 
by  Mrs.  Sidgwick  as  having  occurred  in  the  conversa- 
tion, and  some  of  which  were  such  that  if  they  had  oc- 
curred they  would  not  very  likely  have  been  forgotten. 
The  references  to  a  sealed  envelope,  to  the  editing  of 
some  unfinished  work  of  Sidgwick's,  to  some  College 
business  and  to  the  Gurney  library  were  emphatic,  de- 
liberate, and  some  of  them  repeated  and  insisted  upon. 

The  "library"  reference  might  be  explained  if  we  as- 
sume a  mix-up  in  the  present  Myers  p  communications 
with  those  received  in  February  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script 
in  which  mention  is  made  of  "library."  ^  But  the  other 
statements  given  gradually  and  cautiously,  and  con- 
cerning matters  which  Frederic  Myers  would  have  been 
liable  to  discuss  with  Mrs.  Sidgwick,  rather  indicate 
that  Myers  p  was  engaged  in  guess  work  and  "fishing," 
carefully  feeling  his  way  while  completing  his  state- 
ments. When  he  thinks  a  statement  correct — as  in  the 
case  of  the  sealed  letter — he  makes  it  more  definite  and 
emphatic. 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  425. 


232  Spirit  Identity 

The  second  part,  as  we  have  said,  is  very  different. 
The  communications  begin  with  reference  to  the 
"hbrary,"  and  upon  Mrs.  Sidgwick's  unguarded  sug- 
gestion it  becomes  definitely  the  Gurney  hbrary.  Next 
there  is  a  document — Mr.  Sidgwick's  will — a  very 
plausible  subject  of  discussion  at  the  time  of  his  death. 
Something  may  have  been  said  at  Terling  in  regard  to 
the  will,  but  the  subject  would  have  been  of  very  little 
interest  since  Mrs.  Sidgwick  alone  was  mentioned 
therein.    Ver}^  likely  these  two  points  were  guess  work. 

We  should  notice  that  the  various  non-veridical  refer- 
ences from  now  on  cease  to  be  made.  On  the  hypothesis 
of  guessing  it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  the 
Myers  p  by  this  time  to  find  out  from  the  attitude  of 
JMrs.  Sidgwick— or  possibly  telepathically — that  those 
references  were  incorrect,  and  thus  to  be  able  to  elimi- 
nate from  the  matter  likely  to  have  been  discussed  at 
Terling  anything  relating  to  these  things.  This,  of 
course,  would  facilitate  further  guess  work.  We  need 
not  say  that  working  on  this  hyj^othesis  we  assume  the 
INIyers/^  to  be  a  "secondary  personality"  of  Mrs.  Piper 
appearing  in  her  trance,  which  of  course  would  allow 
for  abnormal  acuteness  and  cunning. 

The  veridical  references  in  the  second  part  of  the  sit- 
tings were  not  all  given  without  circumspection,  nor 
were  they  all  fidly  correct.  The  statement  as  to  the 
Memoir  came  piecemeal  and  began  in  a  very  confused 
manner.  Mrs.  Sidgwick  remarks^  that  "Rector's  ina- 
bilit)^  to  catch  a  word  which  should  have  been  'memoir,' 
or  an  equivalent,  gave  Myers  p  an  opportunity,  had  he 
needed  it,  of  developing  the  idea  in  some  different  way 
and  of  denying  that  it  was  a  biography  that  was  to  be 
written.  If  (she)  had  not  a  little  later  somewhat  un- 
guardedly accepted  the  interpretation  in  an  unequiv- 
ocal manner,  he  might  have  found  it  necessary  to  put 
out  further  feelers." 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  437. 


Spirit  Identity  233 

Myers'  anxiety  that  the  biography  should  be  written 
and  his  dechning  the  task  on  account  of  other  pressing 
work  were  true  to  reahty.  It  was  also  true  that  he  pro- 
posed Arthur  Sidgwick's  agency  in  executing  the  work. 
But  it  should  be  noted  that  Frederic  Myers  had  pro- 
posed that  Arthur  Sidgwick  should  wiite  the  biog- 
raphy, not  that  he  should  help  Mrs.  Sidgwick  in  do- 
ing it.  This,  she  states,  was  her  own  desire,^  which  fact, 
of  course,  would  indicate  that  the  Myers  p  statement  had 
its  source  in  communication  from  her  mind. 

As  a  test  the  experiment  was  a  complete  failure  be- 
cause all  veridical  references  to  the  Terling  conver- 
sation concerned  facts  known  to  one  of  the  actual  sit- 
ters and  might  therefore  have  been  communicated  in 
the  manner  of  thought  transference  to  the  mind  of  Mrs. 
Piper.  The  assumption  that  this  is  what  actually  took 
place  is  rather  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  of  the  five 
veridical  references  only  one  was  given  in  the  first  part 
of  the  communications,  and  this  was  the  only  one  known 
to  Mrs.  Verrall;  the  other  four  were  given  when  Mrs. 
Sidgwick  arrived  on  the  scene.  Another  circumstance 
pointing  in  the  same  direction  is  found  in  the  accord- 
ance of  the  information  given  by  Myers  p  with  the  views 
of  the  sitter  rather  than  with  those  of  Frederic  Myers. ^ 

^Op.  cit.,  p.  436. 

^  We  quote  a  remark  by  Dr.  Lapponi  bearing  upon  this  fact 
("Ipnotismo  e  Spiritismo,"  pp.  183-184)  :  "Altro  fatto  non  meno  sor- 
prendente  e  la  facilita  con  cui  nei  loro  gusti  gli  spiriti  sanno  addatassi 
a  quelli  dei  loro  devoti  cultori.  Si  dirrebbe,  che,  come  I'antica  Pitonessa 
nel  rendere  i  suoi  oracoli  parteggiava  per  il  re  Filippo,  cosi  oggi  gli 
spiriti  parteggino  per  le  opinioni  professate  da  chi  li  consulta;  pii  con  le 
persone  pie;  amorevoli  con  chi  ama  i  suoi  care; — inghilterra  gli  spirite 
sono  sceptici,  discorsivi,  avveduti;  in  Germania,  mistici,  speculative, 
transcendentali ;  e  in  Francia,  libertini,  generosi,  spensierati  frivoli.  Negli 
State  Uniti  Americani,  essi  sono  positivi,  dommatici,  arditi,  e  proclamano 
la  metempsicosi ; — Presso  i  Mormoni  e  nell'  Utah,  approvano  e  incielano 
la  poligamia.  .  .  .In  Russia  celebrano  con  grandi  lodi  la  religione 
ortodossa,  e  incoraggiano  con  tempo  la  propaganda  nichilista.  In  Ispania 
invece  fanno  voti  che  tutte  le  societa  spiritistiche  se  uniscano  e  si  in- 
corporino  colla  massoneria.     .     .     ." 


234  Spirit  Identity 

The  strongest  case  indicating  spirit  identity  in  the 
Myers  p  communications  is  the  Lethe  incident/  Un- 
fortunately it  is  too  comphcated  to  allow  of  a  full  ex- 
position or  even  of  an  adequate  treatment  in  this 
limited  space,  but  we  shall  try  to  bring  out  the  points 
which  bear  the  main  burden  of  evidence." 

Towards  the  end  of  a  sitting  of  March  23d,  1908,  Mr. 
Dorr  asked  Myers  p:  "What  does  the  word  Lethe  sug- 
gest to  you?"  Answers  were  given  in  part  and  in  a 
confused  manner  and  the  word  cave  written.  Upon 
waking  Mrs.  Piper  muttered  pavia  and  then : 

"Sybil — Olympus — water — Lethe 

Put  them  all  together — Entwined  love — beauti- 
ful shores — 
Pharao's  daughter  came  out  of  the  water — 
Warm — sunlit — love. 
Lime  leaf — heart — sword — arrow 
I  shot  an  arrow  through  the  air 
And  it  fell  I  know  not  where."  ^ 

Then  she  saw  a  vision  of  a  lady  which  she  describes 
thus:' 

"Lady — I  want  to  say  that  the  walls  came  out,  and 
in  the  air  was  a  lady  who  had  no  clothes  on ;  and  in  her 
hand  she  had  a  hoop  and  two  pointed  things,  and  she 
pulled  a  string,  and  she  pointed  it  straight  at  me,  and  I 
thought  it  would  hit  me  in  the  eye.  And  Mr.  Myers 
put  his  hand  up  and  stopped  her.  She  had  a  hooj),  and 
there  was  only  half  of  the  hoop  there." 

^  Podmore  in  "The  "Newer  Spirittbalism,"  says  (p.  262)  :  "It  must,  I 
think,  be  admitted  on  all  hands  that  the  method  of  answering  the  Lethe 
question  was  well  devised;  and  that  this  is  precisely  the  kind  of  evidence 
demanded  for  the  proof  of  spirit-identity;  and  that,  though  no  single  case 
can,  of  course,  be  conclusive,  yet  that  if  evidence  of  this  kind  were  multi- 
plied the  presumption  in  favor  of  the  reality  of  spirit  communication 
might  at  length  become  irresistible." 

^  For  the  Lethe  incident  see  J.  G.  Piddington  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R., 
xxiv:  86-142. 

*0p.  cit.,  p.  89. 

*  Ibid. 


Spirit  Identity  235 

At  subsequent  sittings  Myers  p,  or  Hodgson  p  speak- 
ing for  him,  repeated  the  words  "Cave,"  "Iris"  and 
"Clouds,"  gave  the  word  "Flowery  Banks"  and  wrote 
that  Iris  was  the  woman  shooting.^  "Pavia"  was  re- 
peated several  times.  On  March  24th,  Hodgson />  con- 
trolling, Mr.  Dorr  asked  what  Myers  p  meant  by  the 
winds  of  which  he  had  spoken,  and  received  in  answer :  ^ 

H  p — "Yes,  clouds — arrow — Iris — Cave — Mor  MOR 
Latin  for  sleep  Morpheus — Cave." 

Dorr — "Good.  I  understand  what  you  are  after 
now.  But  can't  you  make  it  clearer  what  there  was  pe- 
culiar about  the  waters  of  Lethe?" 

H  p — "Yes,  I  suppose  you  think  I  am  affected  in  the 
same  way  but  I  am  not" 

On  waking  up  Mrs.  Piper  saw  written  on  the  wall 
"C,"  and  then  afterwards,  as  though  something  came  in 
between,  "Y  X."  ^  On  March  30th  the  word  was 
spelled  "CYNX."  Later  variations  of  the  word  ap- 
peared.^ Then,  in  the  waking  stages  Mrs.  Piper  said: 
"Mr.  Myers  says:  No  poppies  ever  grew  on  Elysian 
shores."  ^ 

The  whole  series  of  communications  was  utterly  ir- 
relevant both  to  Mr.  Dorr,  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Mr.  Gerald 
Balfour,  but  Mr.  Piddington  searched  the  classics  till  he 
found  in  the  eleventh  book  of  Ovid's  "Metamor- 
phoses" a  passage  which  in  main  justifies  the  answers 
given  by  the  communicators.^ 

None  of  those  present  could  recall  having  read  the 
eleventh  book  of  the  ''Metamorphoses."  Mr.  Pidding- 
ton makes  a  careful  survey  of  the  classical  reading  of 

^Op.  cit.,  p.  90-91. 

=  Ibid.,  p.  91 

'Ibid.,  p.  94. 

*Ibid.,  p.  95. 

=  Ibid.,  p.  97. 

"Ovid,  ^'Metamorphoses,"  ix:410-748.  The  story  runs  as  follows:  Ceyx, 
King  of  Trachim,  had  been  shipwrecked  and  drowned.  Meanwhile  Alcyone, 
his  queen,  implored  Juno  for  his  safety,  who  sends  Iris  to  "seek  speedily 
the  drowsy  court  of  Somnus    ( sleep )    and  order  him  to  send  to  Alcyone  a 


236  Spirit  Identity 

the  sitters  as  well  as  of  the  medium,  and  comes  to  the 
conclusion  that  Mrs.  Piper  had  little  or  no  acquaintance 
with  classical  authors,  that  Mr.  Dorr  had  not  read  it, 
that  INIrs.  Verrall  had  lectured  on  Ovid  at  Newnham 
College  but  that  her  lectures  had  not  included  the 
" Metamorphoses"  which  she  could  not  recall  having 
read,  ^  and  as  for  Piddington  himself,  he  had  not  seen 
the  passage  until  he  happened  upon  it  after  the  sittings. 

Frederic  Myers,  however,  had  an  intimate  acquaint- 
ance with  classical  literature,  and  there  is  no  reason  for 
supposing  that  he  should  not  have  read  the  book  in 
question."  In  so  far  as  his  knowledge  in  life  is  con- 
cerned, there  would  therefore  be  nothing  absurd  in  sup- 
posing that  the  references  to  the  Lethe  passage  should 
have  come  from  him.  Throughout  the  communication 
there  is  an  abundance  of  other  references  to  classical 
literature,  which  would  be  rather  the  thing  to  expect 
from  Myers. 

Of  course,  Mrs.  Piper  knew  of  Frederic  Myers' 
literary  tastes,  and  it  would  be  natural  for  her  trance 
personality  to  associate  his  name  with  references  of  this 
kind.  That  she  claims  Myers  as  communicator  does 
not,  therefore,  prove  anything.  But  from  where  does 
she  receive  the  information?  Of  course,  it  may  have 
come  partly  from  Mrs.  Verrall's  mind,  partly,  perhaps, 
from  some  mind  outside  the  circle.  Mr.  Dorr  had  read 
in  childhood  Bluefinch's  ''Age  of  Fable"  ^'  in  which  the 
Ovidian  stories  referred  to  in  the  script  occur.  That 
subconscious  impressions  of  this  reading  may  have  lin- 

vision,  in  the  form  of  the  dead  Ceyx,  to  reveal  the  sad  truth."  Iris  "im- 
printing her  bended  boic  upon  the  sky  seeks  ....  King  Sleep's  abode  .  .  . 
beneath  a  cloud."  There  is  a  cave,  the  home  and  sanctuary  of  Sleep.  From 
the  foot  of  the  rock  containing  the  cave  issues  the  stream  of  the  water  of 
Lethe.  "Before  the  cavern's  entrance  abundant  poppies  bloom  and  hei-bs 
innumerable.  .  .  ."  From  among  his  thousand  sons  Somnus  choses 
Morpheus  to  produce  the  dream  vision  of  Ceyx.      (The  words  in  italics  are 

^Op.  cit.  p.  131. 

'Ibid.,  pp.   128  et  seq. 

'Ibid.,  p.  142. 


spirit  Identity  237 

gered  in  his  mind  is  not  unthinkable — on  the  contrary, 
it  has  been  shown  that  impressions  received  in  child- 
hood and  later  apparently  completely  obliterated  have 
lingered  in  the  latent  memory  and  returned  to  con- 
sciousness in  old  age.  There  would  be  nothing  un- 
natural, then,  in  supposing  that  the  test  part  of  the 
trance  communication  was  drawn  from  Mr.  Dorr's  sub- 
conscious memory. 

Of  course,  this  robs  the  case  of  unquestionable  posi- 
tive evidence  for  intervention  of  spirits.  But  the  en- 
semble of  literary  references  in  the  script  and  the 
strong,  dramatic  impersonation  certainly  make  an  evi- 
dential contribution  which  can  not  be  easily  dismissed, 
and  we  feel  that  while  the  case  does  not  compel  us  to 
accept  this  evidence  as  conclusive,  yet  it  should  incline 
us  to  leave  the  question  of  spirit-identity  open. 

Richard  Hodgson  died  early  in  1906  while  playing 
handball  and  the  Hodgson  control  appeared  in  Mrs. 
Holland's  script  on  February  9th  that  year.^  It  should 
be  mentioned  that  shortly  before  she  had  seen  his 
obituary  notice  in  the  newspapers.  But  the  Hodgson/' 
communications  show  very  little  of  an  evidential 
nature.^ 

The  greatest  activity  of  this  control  is  shown  in  the 
Piper  trances  both  in  England^  and  in  the  United 
States.^  The  English  sittings  are  of  little  interest  in 
so  far  as  evidence  for  identity  is  concerned.  For  test 
purposes  intimate  English  friends  of  Hodgson's  hither- 
to not  connected  with  the  active  work  of  the  Society 
for  Psychical  Research  were  introduced  anonymously 
after  the  trance  had  begun,  but  the  results  obtained 

*  For  the  Hodgson  Control  in  Mrs.  Holland's  automatic  writing  see 
Alice  Johnson  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxi:  303-3 15. 

-  Podmore,  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  pp.  212-214. 

^  Mrs.  H.  Sidgwick  and  J.  G.  Piddington,  "Note  on  Mrs.  Piper's  Hodgson 
Control  in  England  in  1906-7,"  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxiii:  122-126,  and 
Sir  Oliver  Lodge,  Ibid.,  pp.  226-255. 

*  Prof.  William  James,  "Report  on  Mrs.  Piper's  Hodgson  Control,"  in 
Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxiii: 2-1 21. 


238  Spirit  Identity 

were  purely  negative/  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  calls  both  the 
Myers  p  and  the  Hodgson /j  of  the  English  sittings 
"rather  shadowy,  and  so  to  speak  uninteresting  com- 
municators" with  whom  he  was  not  strongly  im- 
pressed." 

The  Hodgson  control  studied  by  Professor  James  in 
sittings  with  Mrs.  Piper  in  America  are  of  much  greater 
evidential  value. ^  The  impersonation  is  usually  good 
and  there  is  a  great  abundance  of  truthful  information 
communicated  to  the  sitters.  Professor  James,  how- 
ever, thinks  that  any  single  event  communicated  could 
have  its  source  either  in  lucky  chance-hits  or  in  in- 
formation received  from  Hodgson  in  lifetime  by  Mrs. 
Piper  and  stored  up  "either  supraliminally"  or  sub- 
liminally"  in  her  memory.^  Mrs.  Piper,  it  must  be  re- 
membered, had  known  Hodgson  well  for  many  years. 
For  these  and  other  reasons  Professor  James  pro- 
nounces the  Hodgson/?  case  an  exceptionally  poor  one, 
and  considers  that  for  successful  given  information 
"there  are  far  more  naturalistic  explanations  available 
than  is  the  case  with  the  other  spirits  who  have  pro- 
fessed to  control  Mrs.  Piper.^ 


Before  drawing  general  conclusions  we  shall  briefly 
consider  the  evidence  offered  by  cross-correspondence. 
The  idea,  of  course,  is  that  some  one  intelligence  is  di- 
recting the  conmiunications  to  the  different  mediums 
and  that  this  intelligence  might  be  shown  not  only  to  be 
external  to  them,  but  belong  to  the  world  of  spirits. 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxiiiiTZS. 

=  Ibid.,  pp.  282-283. 

•'' Podmore  saya  {"The  Newer  Spiritualism"  p.  215)  that  it  "seems  to 
have  been  one  of  the  most  lifelike  and  dramatic  impersonations  of  the 
whole  series  given  through  Mrs.  Piper,  and  many  times  relevant  state- 
ments were  made  of  an  intimate  kind  such  as  could  scarcely  have  pro- 
ceeded from  Mrs.  Piper  herself." 

*  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  xxiii :   5  and  4. 

''Ibid.,  p.  5. 


Spirit  Identity  239 

The  evidence  for  spirit  direction  of  the  corre- 
spondence Miss  AHce  Johnson  thinks  will  he  found  in 
the  fact  that  the  script  of  each  individual  medium  is 
quite  unintelligihle  to  her,  and  that  the  clue  to  the  mes- 
sage is  found  in  the  corresponding  script  of  one  of  the 
other  mediums.^  Of  course,  there  are  many  cases 
which  can  not  be  explained  merely  by  chance  coinci- 
dence. In  these  cases  we  must  resort  to  a  comparison 
with  the  telepathic  phenomena,  but  the  question  is 
whether  they  show  that  we  have  to  deal  with  telepathy, 
or  a  similar  mode  of  communication,  from  the  dead,  or 
whether  telepathy  from  a  living  person  would  offer 
satisfactory  analogy. 

First  of  all,  chance  telepathy  from  the  living  must 
be  considered  excluded  on  the  ground  that  the  com- 
municating agency  shows  a  definite  purpose  and  de- 
sign in  directing  the  communications.  Chance  impres- 
sions of  telepathic  nature  might  well  produce  similar 
statements  in  the  script  of  the  various  automatists,  but 
in  good  cases  of  cross-correspondence  one  script  shows 
no  similarity  to  the  other  and  the  message  becomes  in- 
telligible only  when  the  different  scripts  are  taken  to- 
gether. 

Miss  Johnson  refers"  to  the  "Ave  Roma  Iminortalis" 
as  the  clearest  case  of  what  she  considers  typical  cross- 
correspondence.  Of  course  this  script  is  far  from  clear 
in  itself,  and  not  even  Mrs.  Verrall  understood  it  when 
the  clue  "Ave  Roma  Immortalis"  came  from  Mrs. 
Holland.  There  is  no  necessary  connection  between 
the  various  expressions  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  except 
that  they  seem  to  refer  to  the  Papacy.  And  this  refer- 
ence is  perfectly  clear  without  the  "clue."  We  think 
that  Miss  Johnson  admits  this. 


^  Alice  Johnson,  "On  the  Automatic  Writing  of  Mrs.  Holland,"  chapter 
VII,  "The  Theory  of  Cross-Correspondence,"  in  Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.^ 
xxi:369. 

=  0p.  cit.,  p.  387. 


240  Spirit  Identity 

One  way  out  might  be  found  in  assuming  that  Mrs. 
VerralFs  script  had  no  further  source  than  her  own 
subhminal  mind,  and  that  Dr.  Verrall,  who  ah*eady  on 
the  fourth  of  March  had  drawn  his  conchision  as  to  its 
meaning,  simply  picked  the  "Ave  Roma  Iitunortalisf 
which  occurred  three  days  later  in  Mrs.  Holland's 
script,  as  a  very  plausible  counterpart.  But  we  do  not 
think  the  hypothesis  of  mere  chance  coincidence  between 
Dr.  Verrall's  interpretation  of  his  wife's  script  and  the 
sentence  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script  warranted,  especially 
in  view  of  the  subsequent  sentence  occurring  in  the  lat- 
ter: "How  could  I  make  it  any  clearer  without  giving 
her  the  clue?"  Mrs.  Holland's  trance  personality  evi- 
dently intends  the  first  sentence  to  refer  to  a  cross- 
correspondence. 

Miss  Johnson  offers  the  following  alternatives: 
1.  Since  the  topic  was  in  Dr.  Verrall's  mind,  a  frag- 
ment thereof  may  have  been  transmitted  from  him  to 
Mrs.  Holland;  2.  Again  it  may  have  been  transmit- 
ted from  his  mind  to  that  of  his  wife,  and  from  her  to 
Mrs.  Holland;  3.  Mrs.  Verrall  may  have  interpreted 
her  script  subliminally  and  conveyed  the  idea  of  it  tele- 
pathically  to  Mrs.  Holland.  But  she  rejects  the  three 
hypotheses  on  the  ground  that  Mrs.  Holland's  script 
reproduced  nothing  that  had  appeared  in  Mrs. 
Verrall's,  but  rather  supplied  the  clue  to  complete  Mrs. 
Verrall's  allusions.  Of  course,  whether  Mrs.  Holland's 
script  actually  presents  a  clue  is  very  questionable. 
Miss  Johnson  furthermore  argues  that  the  second 
sentence  in  Mrs.  Holland's  script — "How  could  I  make 
it  any  clearer  without  giving  her  the  clue?" — shows  "the 
deliberate  intention  of  the  control  to  prevent  Mrs. 
Verrall  from  understanding  or  guessing  the  meaning 
of  her  script." 

First  of  all,  assuming  that  the  direction  of  a  cross- 
correspondence  is  undertaken  by  a  "secondary  per- 
sonality" develoj^ed  in  an  automatist,  we  must  also  take 


Spirit  Identity  241 

for  granted  that  the  normal  personality  of  the  autom- 
atist  has  no  knowledge  of  the  activities  of  the 
"secondary  personality."  This  is  necessary  in  order  not 
to  impugn  the  automatist's  good  faith,  and  is  in  ac- 
cordance with  the  results  of  studies  of  "secondary  per- 
sonalities." If  we  grant  this,  it  would  not  be  difficult 
to  accept  Mrs.  Verrall's  subliminal  self  as  being  the 
director  of  the  correspondence  and  in  that  capacity  in- 
fluence Mrs.  Holland's  subliminal  self  by  communica- 
tion at  a  distance.  We  shall  have  occasion  to  return 
to  this  hypothesis  in  connection  with  the  other  speci- 
men of  cross-correspondence.^ 

The  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  incident  is  of  a  far  more 
complicated  nature."  It  is  not  difficult  to  detect  the 
action  of  a  directing  intelligence  throughout  the  whole 
correspondence.  The  passages  in  Miss  Mac's  script 
most  obviously  referring  to  Ruskin's  ''Sesame  and 
Lilies''  are  those  of  July  25th  and  27th  (D  and  E  re- 
spectively). 

"A  blue  book  bound  in  blue  leather  with  ended 
paper  and  gold  tooling,"  and 

"Sidgwick,  Sesame  and  Lilies — lotus  the  flower 
of  repentance." 

^  It  may  also  be  conceived  that  a  reading  of  Marion  Crawford's  book 
on  Rome  might  have  influenced  the  correspondence.  If  we  suppose  that 
the  ideas  contained  in  Mrs.  Verrall's  script,  especially  those  of  the  vic- 
torious struggles  of  Christian  and  Papal  Rome,  with  possible  reference 
to  Gregory  the  Great,  Leo  XIII,  etc.,  reached  the  subliminal  mind  of  Mrs. 
Holland,  they  might  there  have  been  associated  with  ideas  from  the 
Crawford  book,  and  suggested  to  lier  that  this  book  was  what  the  script 
referred  to.  Her  script,  then,  could  be  explained  as  a  broad  reference  to 
the  book  beyond  which  she  could  not  go  without  plainly  solving  the  whole 
riddle.  The  final  sentences  in  the  book  read:  "Together,  the  thoughts 
of  love  and  reverence  rise  in  words,  and  with  them  comes  the  deep  wonder 
at  something  very  great  and  high.  For  he  himself  (who  loves  Rome)  is 
grown  grey  and  war-worn  in  the  strife  of  a  few  poor  years,  while  through 
five  and  twenty  centuries  Rome  has  faced  war  and  the  world ;  and  he,  a 
gladiator  of  life,  bows  his  head  before  her,  wondering  how  his  own  fight 
shall  end  at  last,  while  his  lips  pronounce  the  submission  of  his  own 
mortality  to  her  abiding  endurance — Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  moriturus  Te 
Salutat.  (Francis  Marion  Crawford,  "Ave  Roma  Immortalis,  Studies 
from  the  Chronicles  of  Rome,"  1898.) 

-See  chapter  IV,  pp.  110  et  seq. 


242  Spirit  Identity 

The  obvious  references  to  Riiskin  in  Miss  Verrall's 
script  occur  on  August  12th  and  22nd  (G  and  J  re- 
spectively) : 

"praeterita  rediviva,"  and 

"Unto  this  last  that  was  the  message  to  be  given. 
— note  that  the  words  are  a  clue." 

These  four  pieces  of  script  would  be  sufficient  to 
make  the  combination  of  Ruskin's  three  books.  Mrs. 
Verrall's  script  of  August  19th  (H)  is  indicative  of 
cross-correspondence  with  the  catchword  "lilies"  and 
the  nature  of  the  "puzzle" — a  literary  allusion,  and  that 
of  Miss  Verrall  on  the  same  day  (J)  refers  to  Miss 
Mac's  script  of  July  26  (D)  and  to  the  more  commonly 
known  edition  of  ''Sesame  and  Lilies." 

Whether  any  reference  to  the  mottoes  is  intended  or 
not  is  not  clear.  Miss  Mac's  message  of  July  19th  (B) 
has  reference  to  lilies  "that  grow  by  Sharon's  dewy 
rose"  and  to  "the  dust  shall  be  converted  into  fine  gold." 
The  "Lilies"  motto  "As  the  Lily  among  thorns,  so  is 
my  love"  may  be  connected  with  the  "lilies"  in  the 
script,  but  the  word  appears  very  frequently  in  the 
series  and  this  connection  is  not  obvious  and  need  not 
be  assumed.  Nor  need  we  assume  that  "the  dust  shall 
be  converted  into  fine  gold"  has  any  reference  to  the 

"Sesame"  motto  "Out  of  it  cometh  bread and 

dust  of  gold."  After  all,  there  is  a  difference  between 
the  ideas  "dust  of  gold"  and  "dust  shall  be  converted 
into  gold."  If  we  discard  the  connection  the  intro- 
ductory B-script  would  then  contain 

(a)  the  catchward  "lilies"; 

(b)  an  exhortation  to  search  the  automatic  script  dili- 
gently, and  out  of  the  dust  of  seemingly  meaningless 
scribble  will  come  gold — /.  e.,  proof  of  spirit-identity. 

Certainly  this  both  explains  and  gives  a  raison  d'etre 
to  B.  If  we  accept  this  alternative  it  would  be  suffi- 
cient for  the  directing  intelligence  to  be  familiar  with 


Spirit  Identity  243 

Ruskin'js  three  books  in  question  and  to  have  seen  the 
edition  of  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  bound  in  blue  and  gold. 

We  shall  now  inquire  into  the  possibility  of  the  di- 
recting intelligence  being  found  in  the  mind  of  a  liv- 
ing person. 

The  cross-correspondence  must  have  been  planned 
not  later  than  March  17th,  1908,  when  Miss  Verrall 
wrote  script  A  in  which  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  occurs. 
On  that  date  the  Verralls  did  not  know  of  the  existence 
of  the  Macs — as  a  fact  this  knowledge  came  to  them  on 
September  26th  when  the  whole  series  of  script  was 
completed. 

Miss  Mac  did  not  know  the  Verralls  before  the  series 
of  script  was  completed,  but  she  knew  of  Mrs.  Verrall 
at  least  in  January,  1908,  when  she  read  Myers'  ''Hu- 
man Personality,"  and  where  mention  is  made  particu- 
larly of  her  crystal  visions.  No  mention  is  made  of 
Miss  Verrall  in  that  work.  Of  course,  she  might  have 
heard  or  read  of  Miss  Verrall  in  some  other  connection, 
which  we  can  not  now  verify.  ''Hinnan  Personality" 
does  not  treat  of  cross-correspondence,  but  the  subject 
has  been  so  much  in  the  air  that  it  is  probable  that  Miss 
Mac  knew  of  it  before  reading  Miss  Johnson's  report 
on  Mrs.  Holland's  script^  in  June  that  year.  This, 
however,  is  another  thing  which  we  can  not  verify.  But 
the  "Sesame  and  Lilies"  is  far  too  elaborate  to  be  likely 
to  constitute  a  first  experiment  on  her  part. 

The  most  plausible  theory,  to  our  mind,  is  the  follow- 
ing: 

The  reading  about  Mrs.  Verrall  in  "Human  Person- 
ality" caused  telepathic  communication  from  Miss 
Mac's  subconscious  mind  to  that  of  Mrs.  Verrall.  Mrs. 
Verrall's  subconscious  mind,  then,  desirous  to  prove 
the  identity  of  the  spirit  which  it  may  have  imper- 
sonated, conceived  the  idea  of  establishing  cross-cor- 

^  In  "Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:166  et  seq. 


244  Spirit  Identity 

respondence  between  this  unknown  person  (Miss  Mac), 
Miss  Verrall  and  herself,  and  the  subject  of  the  cor- 
respondence having  been  planned  her  subconscious 
mind — which  we  may  conceive  as  having  assumed  a 
Sidgwick  V  personality — undertook  the  direction 
tliereof.  This  would  explain  references  in  the  script 
to  Mrs.  Verrall's  script  in  1907,^  also  the  great  elab- 
oration of  her  script  of  August  19th,  1908  (H),  with 
its  promise  of  ultimate  success. 

The  hypotheses  may  seem  a  little  bold,  but  we  think 
it  will  find  confirmation  in  another  cross-corre- 
spondence, which  for  lack  of  space  we  can  not  quote, 
but  for  which  we  have  to  refer  the  reader  to  the  reports 
in  the  Proceedings'  or  to  Mr.  Podmore's  treatment  of 
the  subject.^  We  refer  to  the  "Latin  Message"  sup- 
posedly connected  with  the  "Hope  Star  Browning"  cor- 
respondence, in  which  the  JNIyers  control  was  the  pre- 
sumed directing  intelligence  writing  through  Mrs. 
Piper,  Mrs.  Verrall  and  Miss  Verrall.  We  quote  Mr. 
Podmore's  conclusion:^ 

"It  would  appear  ....  from  the  four  months' 
atrial  of  the  Latin  message  that  the  trance  personality 
which  the  experimenters  call  Myers — P.,  ....  had 
not  even  at  the  end  of  the  sittings  grasped  the  scheme  of 
cross-correspondence;  was  so  far  from  grasping  it,  in- 
deed, that  not  even  the  numerous  hints  given  in  the 
course  of  the  dialogue  succeeded  in  conveying  that  idea. 
From  this  it  would  seem  to  follow,  not  merely  that  the 
Piper-Myers  is  an  intelligence  of  distinctly  inferior  ca- 
pacity, but  that  it  is  not  identical  with  the  intelligence, 
claiming  to  emanate  from  the  same  discarnate  source, 
which  has  for  years  past  been  elaborating,  through  Mrs. 
Verrall's  hand,  a  scheme  of  complex  cross-correspond- 
ences." 


'  See  under  A. 

^Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxii: 59-77,  320-397,  et  alibi  passim,  Ibid.,  xxiv: 
11-13,  18,  134,  161,  262. 

'  Podmore.  "The  Newer  Spiritualism,"  pp.  246-254. 
*  Op.  cit.,  p.  254. 


Spirit  Identity  245 

The  difficulty  in  reconciling  the  Myers />  with  the 
Myers  v  would  disappear  if  we  assume  that  the  Myers  v, 
which  has  a  clear  grasp  of  the  correspondence,  is  noth- 
ing else  than  a  "secondary  personality"  in  the  subcon- 
scious mind  of  Mrs.  Verrall  and  that  it  is  this  subcon- 
scious mind,  impersonating  Myers,  which  telepathically 
directs  the  correspondence. 

Mrs.  Verrall's  subconscious  mind  seems  to  have  been 
the  originator  of  the  idea  of  cross-correspondence  which 
appeared  in  her  script  in  March,  1901,^  and  then  was 
taken  up  by  other  sensitives.  Real  success  came  only  in 
1907.  But  if  we  consider  the  non-moral  character  of  the 
subconscious  mind  in  its  assuming  secondary  personali- 
ties there  is  no  reason  why  that  of  Mrs.  Verrall,  having 
once  conceived  the  idea  of  cross-correspondence,  should 
not  endeavor  to  carry  it  out  for  the  purpose  of  prov- 
ing spirit  identit}^ 

The  difficulty  presented  by  cross-correspondences  is 
that  they  refer  to  propositions  verifiable  in  the  past  or 
present,  and  therefore  capable  of  being  in  the  mind  of 
a  living  person  at  the  time  at  which  the  correspondence 
occurs.  Telepathy  between  the  living  can  always  be 
adduced  in  order  to  explain  away  the  alleged  spirit  con- 
trol in  such  cases,  which  of  course  renders  positive  evi- 
dence for  spirit-agency  in  this  form  of  automatism  un- 
obtainable. But  individual  cases  of  cross-corre- 
spondence not  only  leave  open  the  possibility  of  telep- 
athy as  explanatory  of  the  directing  element,  but  in 
addition  to  this  often  show  that  the  telepathic  explana- 
tion would  be  preferable,  in  view  of  the  facts  in  the  case, 
or,  even,  in  some  cases  quite  evident. - 

Our  review  of  the  cases  of  "spirit-control"  which 
would  be  apt  and  expected  to  present  the  best  evidence 


'  See  Miss  Alice  Johnson  in  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R.,  xxi:373  et  seq. 
-  See  Mr.  Podmore's  treatment  of  the  "Sevens  Incident"  in  Op.  cit.,  pp. 
268-274. 


246  Spirit  Identity 

for  spirit-identity,  and  of  cross-correspondence  as  giv- 
ing indication  of  a  directing  influence  of  discarnate 
spirits  in  automatic  communications,  has  by  necessity 
been  exceedingly  brief.  But  we  are  not  basing  our 
conclusions  upon  an  independent  investigation  of  the 
many  cases  which  present  themselves,  rather,  we  have 
referred  to  the  more  striking  incidents  which  have  ap- 
peared in  the  long  series  of  investigations  on  the  sub- 
ject undertaken  by  men  and  women  with  long  practical 
experience  in  Psychical  Research,  and,  consequently, 
more  capable  of  the  task;  and  dealing  with  these  cases 
as  typical  of  the  best  evidence  obtainable  we  have  en- 
deavored to  show  not  only  its  insufficiency  for  produc- 
ing positive  proof  to  spirit  identity,  but  also  that  it 
often  seems  to  take  on  a  negative  character.  Our  at- 
titude has  been  to  exclude  the  hypothesis  of  spirit  in- 
tervention in  the  presence  of  a  possibly  adequate  natural 
hypothesis. 

Sir  William  Barrett  takes  the  very  opposite  attitude, 
accepting  spirit  intervention  in  the  absence  of  positive 
proof  of  the  presence  of  possible  natural  causes.^  We 
do  not  think  this  attitude  generally  accepted  in  deal- 
ing with  questions  of  the  preternatural,  rather  we  feel 
no  need  for  defending  our  use  of  the  principle  according 
to  which  we  accept  a  preternatural  causation  only  where 
possible  natural  processes  of  causation  would  prove  in- 
adequate.    Acting  upon  this  principle  we  come  to  the 

'"On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen"  (pp.  209-210). 

"The  only  surmise  that  can  be  made  is  that  Mr.  Moses  had  seen  some 
notice  of  the  man's  death  and  career  in  an  American  newspaper,  and 
either  had  forjrotten  the  fact  or  had  purposely  deceived  his  friends.  But 
then,  this  could  only  have  been  one  of  many  similar  cases  of  forgetfulness 
or  deception,  and  before  we  can  assume  this  we  have  to  prove  that  Mr. 
Moses  did  obtain  the  required  information  by  means  of  newspapers  or 
other  mundane  channels  of  information." 

It  may  be  interesting  to  quote  Mr.  Podmore  in  this  regard  ("The 
Newer  Spiritualism,"  p.  148)  :  "Stainton-Moses  was  a  graduate  of  Ox- 
ford. .  .  .  He  wrote  'inspirational'  discoveries  and  books,  and  delivered 
messages  purporting  to  come  from  the  dead.  Most  of  his  clairvoyant  reve- 
lations can  he  shown  to  be  reproductions  of  recent  obituary  notices  in  the 
newspapers  and  other  published  material."      (Italics  ours.) 


Spirit  Identity  247 

conclusion  that  there  is  at  present  no  positive  warrant 
for  accepting  spirit-intervention  in  automatic  communi- 
cations. 

We  have  referred  to  the  activity  of  "secondary  per- 
sonahties"  and  of  the  "subhminal  self,"  and  also  to  tele- 
pathic communications.  As  we  have  pointed  out,  these 
things  do  not  explain  Spiritism.  But  it  is  incontestable 
that  these  notions  cover  a  number  of  facts — by  no 
means  fully  known  or  fully  explored — yet  facts  of 
nature,  to  a  large  extent  capable  of  experimental  re- 
production. So  far  as  we  know  those  facts,  they  seem 
adequate  to  cover  the  problems  offered  by  the  psychical 
phenomena  of  Spiritism.  No  doubt  we  are  moving  to- 
wards a  fuller  knowledge  and  understanding  of  these 
facts  which  may  in  its  turn  alter  their  apparent  relation 
to  the  spiritistic  phenomena.  In  the  meantime  we  can 
form  no  other  judgment  regarding  the  psychical  phe- 
nomena of  Spiritism  than  that  they  have  not  been 
proven  to  be  preternatural. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

Spiritism  as  a  Religion. 

In  our  chapter  on  the  historical  development  of  the 
Spiritistic  movement  we  have  made  mention  of  its  re- 
ligious character,  and,  apart  from  certain  phases  of 
scientific  investigation,  Spiritism,  both  in  its  popular 
form  and  among  its  more  highly  educated  adherents,  is 
viewed  essentially  as  a  Religion.  Indeed,  Spiritists  re- 
gard it  as  a  new  Revelation,  hostile,  it  is  true,  to  pres- 
ent-day Christianity,  but  not  to  what  they  claim  to  be 
the  teaching  of  Christ.^  They  distinguish  between  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  Himself  and  its  interpretation  by  sub- 
sequent Christianity,  in  which  latter  category  they  in- 
clude the  doctrines  proposed  by  the  Apostles.^  Christ 
Himself,  they  say,  was  a  medimii,  perhaps  the  greatest 
of  all,  and  the  truth  which  was  revealed  through  Him  is 
now  forcefully  presented  and  amplified  in  a  form 
adapted  to  the  age  and  attested  by  verifiable  miracles.'^ 

^  "The  religion  of  the  future  is  in  our  midst  already,  working  like 
potent  yeast  in  the  minds  of  the  people.  It  is  in  our  midst  to-day,  with 
signs  and  wonders,  uprising  like  a  swollen  tide.  ...  To  its  prede- 
cessors (Spiritism)  assumes  an  attitude  not  of  hostility,  but  of  com- 
prehension. Though  new  in  its  form,  it  purports  to  have  been  ever  in 
the  world.  Christianity  it  represents,  not  as  a  finality,  but  as  one— the 
greatest,  indeed,  as  yet — of  those  many  waves  of  spiritual  influx  which 
have  ever  been  beating  upon  the  shores  of  time  from  the  dim  expanse  of 
the  Eternal.  Christianity  has  spent  its  force,  and  now  another  revelation 
has  succeeded  it — a  revelation  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  time." — St. 
George  Stock,  "Attempts  at  Truth,"  pp.    128,   1.33. 

^  "If,  however,  we  find  that  the  doctrines  of  Paul,  or  Peter,  or  John 
conflict  witli  the  recorded  teaching  of  the  Master,  let  us  cling  to  the  latter, 
even  though  in  doing  so  we  have  to  discard  many  a  venerable  belief." 
( Farmer,  "A  New  Basis  of  Belief,"  p.  34. ) 

See  also  the  Introduction  to  E.  Katharine  Bates,  "Psychical  Science 
and  Christianity." 

^  "Who  will  say  that  in  the  light  of  the  present  needs  of  the  great 
human  world,  that  (sic!)  Spiritualism  has  no  claim  to  the  attention  of 
the  Christian  Church  as  a  renewal  of  Christ's  teachings,  and  a  reappear- 
ance of  the  signs  and  wonders  which  He  promised  should  distinguish  the 
true  believer?"      (Farmer,  Op.  cit.,  p.  36.) 

".  .  .  Spiritualism  has  come,  claiming  to  add  new  lustre  to 
Christ's    teaching — to    enlarge    its    capacities    and    extend    its    influence. 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  249 

As  a  fact,  so  they  believe,  in  Spiritism  is  again  fulfilled 
Christ's  promise  of  a  renewed  Revelation  of  which  He 
speaks  to  the  Apostles.^  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  sees 
in  it  "a  new  revelation  from  divine  sources  which  con- 
stitutes by  far  the  greatest  religious  event  since  the 
death  of  Christ — a  revelation  which  alters  the  whole  as- 
pect of  life  and  death," "  and  he  with  others  hails  Sir 
Oliver  Lodgers  ''Raymond"  an  epoch-making  work 
containing  "a  new  revelation  of  God's  dealing  with 
man."  ^  In  its  phenomena  Spiritism  claims  to  present 
a  new  basis  for  belief,  which  is  able  to  establish  the 
supernatural  even  before  the  scrutiny  of  science,^  and 

Spiritualism  is  not  more  startling  to  the  religious  world  to-day  than  was 
the  gospel  of  Jesus  to  the  orthodox  Jews.  They  were  scandalized  then 
by  the  new  light  which  was  thrown  upon  their  ritual  and  ceremonial  ob- 
servances, and  in  fear  they  exclaimed — Who  dares  to  question  our  most 
holy  and  ancient  faith  ?  Who  disputes  the  sufficiency  of  the  law  and  the 
prophets?     The  parallel  is  complete."      (Ibid.,  p.  41.) 

^  Op.  cit.,  p.  42;  The  author  here  refers  to  Christ's  promise:  "Adhuc 
multa  habeo  vobis  dicere;  sed  non  potestis  portare  modo.  Cum  autem 
venerit  ille  Spiritus  veritatis,  docebit  vos  omnem  veritatem."  (Joan, 
xvi:  12-13.) 

-Robert  Mountsier,  "Spiritism  in  England"  in  the  Bookman  Jan.,  1918, 
p.  517:  "'The  situation  may  be  summed  up  in  a  simple  alternative,'  said 
Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle  in  going  over  the  subject  with  me.  'The  one 
supposition  is  that  there  has  been  an  outbreak  of  lunacy  extending  over 
two  generations  of  mankind  on  two  continents— a  lunacy  that  assails  men 
and  women  of  character  and  intellect  who  are  otherwise  eminently  sane. 
The  alternative  supposition  is  that  the  world  is  now  confronted  with  a 
new  revelation  from  divine  sources  which  constitutes  by  far  the  greatest 
religious  event  since  the  death  of  Christ — a  revelation  which  alters  the 
whole  aspect  of  life  and  death.  Between  these  two  suppositions  I  can 
see  no  solid  position.  Spiritualism  is  absolute  lunacy  or  it  is  a  revolution 
in  religious  thought,  giving  us  as  by-products  an  utter  fearlessness  of 
death  and  an  immense  consolation  Avhen  those  who  are  dear  to  us  pass 
behind  the  veil.'  " 

^  Ibid.,  loc.  cit.,  "Conan  Doyle  acclaims  the  book  (Sir  Oliver  Lodge's 
"Raymond")  as  one  of  such  value  that  its  true  place  in  the  development 
of  human  convictions  can  hardly  be  measured  by  contemporaries:  'It  is 
a  new  revelation  of  God's  dealing  with  man,  and  it  will  strengthen,  not 
weaken,  the  central  spirit  of  Christianity.'  " 

^  "The  new  bases  of  belief  supplied  by  Spiritualism  are  rational,  and 
they  are  also  scientific.  We  get  our  facts,  verify  them,  and  then  reason 
therefrom  to  a  consistent  theory.  .  .  .  The  Christian  Church  had 
certain  theories  to  uphold,  and  her  facts  were  made  to  coincide  with  them. 
Spiritualism  reverses  this  method ;  by  so  doing  joining  hands  with 
Science;  and  while  putting  many  of  the  doctrines  of  the  Christian  Church 
on  a  lower  basis;  at  the  same  time  places  them  on  an  impregnable  and 
surer  foundation." — (Farmer,  Op.  cit.,  p.   51.) 


2.50  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

to  make  a  more  direct  appeal,  not  only  to  the  intellect 
but  to  the  heart  of  man,  by  means  of  direct  communica- 
tion with  departed  beloved  in  this  life. 

From  such  general  claims  it  would  be  interesting  to 
pass  on  to  a  review  of  leading  doctrines,  but  here  we 
enter  upon  difficulties,  for  the  spiritistic  creeds  show 
too  many  variations  to  make  a  true  synthesis  possible. 
As  a  fact,  Spiritists  disclaim  creeds  in  the  sense  in  which 
the  word  is  understood  by  conservative  Christianity. 
They  consider  it  a  mistake  to  identify  a  creed  with  the 
Gospel.  "In  all  things  essential,"  one  author  says,^ 
"Spiritualism  and  Primitive  Christianity  are  one. 
Around  their  central  facts  are  clustered  a  golden  galaxy 
of  truths.  Taking  the  authentic  utterances  of  Jesus, 
His  teaching  may  be  summed  up  in  Reverence,  Sym- 
pathy,   Purity   and   Love Spiritualism   clears 

away  the  glosses  and  deductions  of  ritual  and  specula- 
tion which  have  gathered  around  His  life  and  work,  and 
more  clearly  reveals  the  divine  truths  underlying  the 
same." 

Both  W.  Stainton-Moses  ^  and  R.  D.  Owen^  find  in 
their  spiritistic  doctrines  what  they  consider  the  es- 
sential teachings  of  Christ.  The  following  ideas,  re- 
ceived from  commmiicating  spirits,  are  set  forth  by 
Mr.  Moses  in  his  ''Spirit  Teachings/' 

God  is  not  spoken  of  by  the  spirits  as  a  personality, 
for  no  spirit  has  ever  seen  Him.  Being  incomprehensi- 
ble to  man  He  is  knowable  only  in  His  works.  Es- 
sentially he  is  Love  and  He  manifests  Wisdom,  Truth 
and  Justice.  He  is  the  almighty,  eternal,  immutable 
Life  principle  and  Author  of  all  might  and  wisdom, 
pervading  all  space  and  living  in  all  men.  He  has  no 
equal  and  He  is  the  Father  of  all  created  beings. 

Man  is  individual  and  immortal,  a  spark  of  Deity. 
His  life  both  here  and  beyond  is  progressive  and  his 

^  Farmer,  Op.  cit.  pp.  56-57. 
■  "Spirit  Teachings." 
'  "The  Debatable  Land." 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  251 

duties  are  progress,  culture,  purity,  charity  and  loving 
kindness,  and  his  happiness  or  its  reverse  depend  upon 
his  fulfillment  or  neglect  of  these  duties. 

Heaven  and  Hell  are  not  places,  but  rather  mental 
states  which  may  be  found  in  this  life  as  well  as  in  the 
next.  According  to  Owen  we  do  not  earn  Heaven  by 
faith  or  works,  nor  are  we  sentenced  to  Hell,  but  we 
simply  gravitate  to  the  state  for  which  we  have  fitted 
ourselves  in  this  life.  Suffering  in  the  future  life  is  a 
consequence  of  evil-doing  in  this,  and  is  proportionate 
thereto.  But  there  is  a  progressive  emergence  from  the 
misery  of  Hell  and  the  spirit  is  able  to  work  out  his 
own  salvation. 

Heath  is  a  passing  of  the  spirit  from  the  earthly  body 
to  the  invisible  world,  without  essential  change.  Ac- 
cording to  Owen,  the  death  change  is  followed  by  an 
earth-phase  of  life  which  is  a  supplement  of  that  which 
precedes  it.  It  resembles  earth-life  but  is  more  ele- 
vated. Finally  the  soul  reaches  a  higher  state  in  which 
it  becomes  God's  messenger  to  men,  but  even  in  this 
state  there  is  constant,  endless  progress. 

ReUgion  does  not  consist  in  dogmatic  belief,  but 
rather  in  feeling  and  in  righteous  dealing  with  our  fel- 
low man.  It  is  this  which  determines  our  happiness  in 
the  next  world.  Jesus  is  the  supreme  example,  but  He 
is  mere  man — although  perfect.  He  was  a  perfect 
medium  through  whom  God  performed  wonderful 
works  as  He  performs  them  through  other  mediums  to- 
day. 

Such  were  the  main  points  in  popular  spiritistic  be- 
lief in  the  days  of  Mr.  Moses.  To  these  beliefs  Allan 
Kardec  added  that  of  reincarnation.  In  the  course  of 
time  the  doctrines  have  undergone  considerable  change 
and  modification,  following  closely  the  development  of 
ultra  modern  philosophical  thought.  From  a  personal 
God  and  Creator  of  the  Universe  Spiritists  have  come 
to  a  conception  more  in  harmony  with  pantheism  and 
evolution.     We  find  this  expressed,  for  instance,  in  the 


252  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

writings  of  Myers,  which  are  representative  of 
spiritistic  rehgious  thought  in  its  most  intellectual  de- 
velopment.^ 

Spirit  communication  as  proving  immortality,  ac- 
cording to  JNIyers'  view,  has  opened  the  realm  of 
"Divine  things"  to  observation  and  experiment,  thus 
abolishing  authority  and  faith  as  a  basis  for  religious 
belief.  In  this,  of  course,  he  deviates  from  the  popular 
attitude  of  Spiritism,  accepting  the  authority  of 
spirit-revelation  as  fundamental  to  faith.  To  Myers 
"the  impulse  of  faith  will  resolve  itself  into  a  reasoned 
and  resolute  imagination,  bent  upon  raising  even  higher 
than  now  the  highest  ideals  of  man."  ^  The  truest  faith 
for  times  to  come  he  thinks  will  lie  in  finding  traces  of 
the  "supernal  world"  through  patient  study  of  spirit- 
istic phenomena.^  Spiritism  is  a  new  link  in  the  chain 
of  spiritual  evolution  following  upon  the  "first  high 
authentic  message  from  a  world  beyond  our  own"  which 
Europe  felt  in  the  age  of  Christ.^  Telepathy,  not  only 
between  living  minds  but  between  the  living  and  the 
dead,  becomes  a  kind  of  cosmic  Love,  binding  and  unit- 
ing kindred  spirits  in  the  universe;  "like  atoms,  like 
suns,  like  galaxies,  our  spirits  are  systems  of  forces 
which  vibrate  continually  to  each  other's  attractive 
power."  ^  And  in  this  is  found  a  religious  education  of 
the  world,  which  always  has  been  operative  between 
this  world  and  the  next,  and  which  does  away  with  any 
need  for  supernatural  interference  or  any  plan  of  re- 
demption. 

^  See  his  Epilogue  in  "Human  Personality,"  vol.  II,  pp.  275  et  seq. 

=  0p.  cit.,  vol.  II,  p.  279. 

^  "It  may  be  that  for  some  generations  to  come  the  truest  faith  will  lie 
in  the  patient  attempt  to  vmravel  from  confused  phenomena  some  traces 
of  the  supernal  world;  to  find  thus  at  last  'the  substance  of  things  hoped 
for,  the  evidence  of  things  not  seen.'  I  confess,  indeed,  that  I  have  often 
felt  as  though  this  present  age  were  even  unduly  favored;  as  though  no 
future  revelation  and  calm  could  equal  the  joy  of  this  great  struggle  from 
doubt  into  certainty — from  the  materialism  and  agnosticism  which  ac- 
company the  first  advance  of  Science  into  the  deeper  scientific  conviction 
that  there  is  a  deathless  soul  in  man."      (Op.  cit.,  vol.  II,  p.  280.) 

Mbid.,  p.  281. 

^  Ibid.,  p.  282. 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  253 

Religion  itself  JNIyers  conceives  as  "the  sane  and 
normal  response  of  the  human  spirit  to  all  that  we  know 
of  cosmic  law;  that  is,  to  the  known  phenomena  of  the 
miiverse,  regarded  as  an  intelligible  whole."  ^  And  of 
this  universe  he  has  the  traditional  pantheistic  concep- 
tion. The  supreme  business,  then,  of  man  is  to  be 
found  in  an  out-reaching  towards  the  World- Soul 
whose  "infinite  energy  of  omniscient  benevolence  should 
become  in  us  an  enthusiasm  of  adoring  cooperation — 
an  eager  obedience  to  whatsoever  with  our  best  pains 
we  can  discern  as  the  justly  ruling  principle  without 
us  and  within."  -  But  side  by  side  with  such  evolution 
of  the  inner  religious  consciousness  Myers  admits  reve- 
lation, i.  e.,  the  unveiling  of  truths  hidden  to  us  by  more 
advanced  spirits  communicating  with  us  by  means  of 
telepathy.  This,  then,  is  our  destiny — a  process  of  de- 
velopment under  the  influence  of  the  all-pervading 
cosmic  Love,  of  gravitation  towards  the  center  of  the 
pantheistic  World- Soul.  In  this  process  alone  is  to  be 
found  individual  salvation. 

Of  course,  to  the  popular  mind,  Mr.  Myers'  views  on 
Spiritism  as  a  Religion  must  be  a  closed  book.  Yet, 
it  shows  the  philosopher's  conception  of  its  acceptance, 
and  while  on  the  one  hand  it  will  serve  certain  minds, 
on  the  other  it  will  find,  faint  though  it  be,  a  reechoing 
in  more  popular  theories.  As  a  fact,  it  can  be  traced 
in  the  latest  development  of  spiritistic  belief  as  found 
in  Sir  Oliver  Lodge's  "Raymond"  and  set  forth  by  one 
of  its  most  modern  prophets.  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle,^ 
who  with  Sir  Oliver  Lodge  ranks  as  one  of  the  most 
able  exponents  of  Spiritism  in  England  in  its  war  de- 
velopment. 

'  Op.  cit.,  vol.  II,  p.  284. 
-  Ibid.,  p.  28.5. 

^  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle,  "The  New  Revelation,"  in  the  Metropolitan, 
January,  1918. 


254  Spiritism  as  a  Beligion 

The  messages  received  from  the  beyond,  according 
to  Sir  Arthur  Conan  Doyle,  give  a  new  Revelation,  al- 
though not  of  an  absolutely  infallible  kind,  for  even 
among  spirits  there  is  a  diversity  of  opinion.  Yet,  there 
is  a  sufficient  consensus  among  the  more  essential  points 
of  teaching  which  may  be  summarized  as  follows: 

The  souls  of  the  departed  are  not  alone,  for  with  them 
there  are  higher  spirits  of  various  degrees  of  perfection. 
God,  being  infinite,  is  not  within  their  ken,  but  the 
Christ  Spirit,  who  is  nearer  God,  represents  Him  and 
lives  with  the  other  spirits.  His  special  care  is  earth, 
and  He  came  to  that  planet  at  a  time  of  great  wicked- 
ness and  corruption  to  teach  men  and  by  His  example 
to  lead  them  to  a  realization  of  a  more  ideal  life.  But 
there  is  no  reference  to  an  Atonement  or  a  Redemptive 
work.  He  may  be  expected  again  to  appear  on  earth, 
sliould  need  there  be. 

Death  is  both  easy  and  painless — a  passing  from  the 
mortal  body,  followed  by  a  reaction  of  peace  and  ease. 
"The  individual  finds  himself  in  a  spirit  body,  which  is 
the  exact  counterpart  of  his  old  one,  save  that  all 
disease,  weakness  or  deformity  has  passed  from  it."^ 
Having  overcome  the  first  amazement  at  the  change,  the 
departed,  still  standing  or  floating  near  his  old  body, 
perceives  not  only  the  bystanders,  but  also  the  dear  ones 
who  have  gone  before  him,  and  now  hasten  to  welcome 
him  to  the  new  world.  There  is  also  a  higher  spirit,  a 
radiant  sort  of  Guardian  Angel,  waiting  there  for  him. 

Before  entering  upon  his  new  life  the  newcomer  now 
has  a  period  of  sleep  varying  from  a  very  few  days  to 
weeks  and  months,"  from  which  he  wakes  up  in  a  state 
of  weakness  but  soon  gathers  new  strength.  In  the  new 
life  love  and  common  interest  unite  individuals,  and  it 
is  full  of  interest  and  occupation.    It  is  like  life  on  earth 

'  Op.  cit.,  p.  75. 

'  In  Raymond's  case  it  lasted  six  days ;  in  Myers'  a  very  prolonged 
period.     In  the  case  of  children  the  sleep  is  of  very  short  duration. 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  2.55 

purged  of  its  material  pursuits  and  concentrated  in 
mental  and  intellectual  activities  and  enjoyments — 
there  is  both  music  and  art.  The  new  form  of  the  spirits 
is  like  their  old  one,  but  there  is  a  gradual  perfection  in 
that  children  grow  up  and  the  old  undergo  a  process  of 
rejuvenation  till  a  normal  standard  has  been  reached 
by  all.  Spirits  are  clothed  and  live  in  communities  and 
the  male  spirit  finds  his  true  mate ^ 

It  should  be  noted  that  the  existence  is  not  permanent, 
for  the  messages  received  on  earth  come  from  those 
recently  deceased,  who  gradually  seem  to  lose  interest  in 
affairs  of  this  world  and  entirely  cease  to  manifest 
themselves  as  soon  as  all  their  beloved  have  rejoined 
them,  and  at  a  later  stage  they  seem  to  pass  to  other 
regions  so  far  unknown.^ 

There  is  no  Hell  with  everlasting  torments;  rather 
the  spirits  indicate  a  kind  of  Purgatory,  a  sort  of 
hospital  for  weak  souls  in  which  they  gradually  emerge 
from  their  infirmities  under  the  educational  influence 
of  spirits  of  higher  regions.  The  "greatest  joy  in 
heaven  lies  in  emptying  hell." 

Such,  then,  are  the  leading  doctrinal  ideas  in  modern, 
popular  Spiritism.  We  have  already  pointed  out  how 
Spiritists  reject  Christianity  and  they  delight  in  pre- 
senting Christian  creeds  as  misrepresentations  of  the 
Gospel  of  Christ — as  the  ideas  and  interpretations  of 
the  Gospel  of  an  uncritical  age  grown  stale  in  a  set  of 
dogmas  demanding  acceptance  by  unreasoned  faith. 
As  such  Christianity  is  beyond  redemption,  for  it  "can 
not  change  without  breaking  the  crusts  of  its  petrified 
beliefs  and  emerging  as  something  entirely  new."  ^  Sir 
Arthur  Conan  Doyle  attacks  the  fundamental  Christian 
idea  of  Redemption,  for  to  him  evolution  has  proven  a 
gradual  transition  from  ape  to  man,  from  savagery  to 

^  In  this  Sir  Arthur  has  adopted  Swedenborg's  view. 
■  John  King  revealed  himself  as  a  band  of  pre-Adamite  men,  and  VV. 
Stainton-Moses   conversed   with   Spirits  of  men   from  great   antiquity. 
'  Tuttle,  "The  Arcana  of  Spiritualism"  p.  276. 


256  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

culture,  and  where  there  was  no  fall  there  can  be  no 
need  for  a  Redemption.  The  very  idea  of  the  Atone- 
ment he  finds  repulsive  and  he  refuses  to  see  the  justice 
in  a  vicarious  sacrifice.  Christ  died,  like  so  many  an 
enthusiast,  a  martyr  for  His  idea,  but  His  importance 
for  humanity  is  to  be  found  in  His  life  rather  than  in 
His  death.^  But  with  all  this,  Sir  Arthur  tells  us,  he 
will  not  contradict  Christianity,  for  there  is  nothing  the 
matter  with  it- — it  only  needs  modification  based  upon 
a  verification  of  its  doctrines  by  means  of  spiritistic  phe- 
nomena. Thus,  Christianity  must  either  accommodate 
itself  to  spiritistic  belief  and  practice — or  it  must 
perish.' 


Spiritism  in  the  whole  of  its  development  is  marked 
by  a  gradual  departure  from  what  is  essential  in 
Christianity,  and  in  this  it  keeps  even  pace  with  what 
is  called  "modern  thought"  in  the  realm  of  vague  re- 
ligious philosophy.  The  Christian  idea  of  a  personal 
God  and  Father,  whose  individual  dealings  with  us 
and  ours  with  Him  constitute  the  essential  elements  of 
Religion,  have  been  supplanted  by  those  of  an  imperson- 
al World-Soul  or  of  a  distant  inscrutable  God  or  Life 
principle  Who  does  not  deal  with  us  directly  and  Whom 
we  can  reach  only  in  so  far  as  He  is  reflected  in  our- 
selves. Instead  of  leading  the  soul  to  man's  ultimate 
end,  the  blissful  contemplation  of  God,  it  slips  it  into 
a  new  world  of  human  ideals  with  its  struggles,  im- 
perfections and  disappointments.  And  as  the  Divinity 
of  Christ  and  His  redemptory  work  are  denied,  so  in- 
dividual salvation  by  faith  in  His  teaching  and  by  its 
practice.  Faith  itself  has  been  removed  from  its  Chris- 
tian basis  of  Divine  authority  and  placed  upon  the 
laboratory  table  of  an  obscure  science.     In  short,  the 

^Metropolitan,  Jan.   1918,  p.  75. 
=  Ibid.,  p.  69. 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  257 

whole  supernatural  structure  of  Christianity  is  de- 
molished by  Spiritism,  which  is  shaping  itself  into 
natural  Religion  with  a  popular  admixture  of  necro- 
mantic superstition. 


The  foundation  upon  which  spiritistic  belief  rests  is 
to  be  found  in  the  phenomena  in  general  as  giving  proof 
of  the  existence  of  a  spiritual,  or,  as  the  Spiritists  are 
wont  to  term  it,  supernatural,  order.  And  particularly 
the  psychical  phenomena  are  held  to  furnish  evidence 
of  spirit-identity  and  thus  to  show  that  the  soul  of  man 
is  immortal.  This  general  and  particular  belief  the 
Spiritist  claims  to  have  established  upon  a  thoroughly 
scientific  ground  as  being  the  only  one  on  which  Re- 
ligious belief  can  be  accepted.  We  think  that  the  preced- 
ing chapters  will  have  shown  with  sufficient  clearness  the 
exact  state  of  solidity  of  this  basis,  for  whereas  it  has 
been  impossible  to  establish  by  positive  proof  that  all 
the  phenomena  are  natural,  i.  e.,  that  their  causes  are 
to  be  found  in  Nature  of  which  we  form  part,  yet  we 
lack  positive  scientific  evidence  for  a  single  phenomenon 
being  of  a  preternatural  character.  So  long  as  this  is 
the  case  the  very  corner-stone  is  removed  from  under 
the  spiritistic  structure. 

But  if  we  abandon  the  high  claims  of  Spiritists  to  es- 
tablish SpiriUialisjn  (in  the  true  sense  of  the  word^) 
and  l7nmortality  on  the  basis  of  scientific  observation 
and  experiment,  and  if  we  admit  as  a  possibility  that 
some  phenomena  might  be  caused  by  spirits,  still  this 
fails  to  leave  a  warrant  for  belief  in  Immortality  or  for 
our  acceptance  of  the  "spirit  messages"  as  forming  a 
true  Revelation.  For  granting  the  existence  of  a  spirit 
world,  must  we  not  also  grant  that  it  may  be  and  in  all 
probability  is  inhabited  by  other  spirits  than  human 
souls?    And  what  assurance  do  we  have  that  the  spirits 

*  See  Introduction,  p.  9,  note  1. 


258  Sjnntism  as  a  Religion 

which  possibly  would  communicate  have  the  knowledge, 
or  power,  or  will,  to  reveal  to  us  the  truths  necessarj^  for 
our  salvation? 

To  go  still  further  in  concessions,  even  though  we 
should  accept,  not  as  a  scientific  conclusion,  but  rather 
as  our  opinion,  that  certain  spirit-messages  would  show 
the  identity  of  the  communicator  with  some  persons  de- 
parted, the  most  we  could  logically  infer  would  be  that 
a  certain  human  being  so  far  had  survived  bodily  death. 
But  from  this  inference,  which  can  not  at  present  be 
based  upon  scientific  evidence,  the  step  is  long  to  proof 
for  permanent  persistence  or  Immortalitij  inherent  in 
all  human  beings} 

Spiritistic  claims,  no  matter  how  we  regard  our  re- 
lations to  the  Deity,  will  be  found  quite  incompatible 
with  the  idea  of  a  Revelation.  On  the  pantheistic  plan, 
the  realization  of  the  Divinity  in  the  individual  must 
needs  coine  through  a  gradual  evolution  of  his  own  con- 
sciousness, which  alone  can  bring  him  nearer  the  center 
of  the  World- Soul,  and  in  such  a  system  the  idea  of  an 
external  Revelation  becomes  rank  nonsense.  Highly 
philosophical  Spiritism  and  Liberal  Christianity,  even 
where  the  existence  of  a  personal  God  is  accepted,  are 
not  very  far  removed  from  pantheistic  conceptions. 
From  their  point  of  view  Revelation  becomes  a  purely 
internal  matter  between  God  and  the  individual  soul, 
and  Religion  means  a  manifestation  of  the  Infinite  in 
and  through  the  finite — a  "knowledge  of  God,  not  of 


^  Sir  William  Barrett  makes  this  point  very  clear  ("On  the  Threshold 
of  the  Unseen,"  p.  287)  :  "Here  let  me  remark  that  the  inference  com- 
monly drawn  that  spirit  communications  teach  us  the  necessary  and  in- 
herent immortality  of  the  soul  is,  in  my  opinion,  a  mischievous  error.  It 
is  true  they  show  us  that  life  can  exist  in  the  unseen,  and — if  we  accept 
the  evidence  for  'identity' — that  some  we  have  known  on  earth  are  still 
living  and  near  us,  but  entrance  on  a  life  after  death  does  not  neces- 
sarily mean  immortality,  i.  e.,  eternal  persistence  of  our  personality;  nor 
does  it  prove  that  survival  after  death  extends  to  all.  Obviously  no  ex- 
perimental evidence  can  ever  demonstrate  either  of  these  beliefs,  though 
it  may  and  does  remove  the  objections  raised  as  to  the  possibility  of 
survival." 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  259 

the  methods  of  His  working,  but  the  consciousness  of 
His  presence "^  The  knowledge  of  the  super- 
natural, then,  must  come  from  within,  must  be  evolved 
in  the  consciousness  of  man,  and,  consequently,  here  as 
in  the  purely  pantheistic  system  the  idea  of  an  external 
Revelation  finds  no  place  in  Religion." 

Seen  from  the  point  of  view  of  more  conservative 
Christianity  the  question  takes  a  very  different  aspect. 
We  shall  prefer  to  discuss  it  not  on  the  basis  of  one  or 
other  creed  within  this  field,  but  rather  upon  principles 
which  we  think  must  be  accepted  by  all  those  who  con- 
sistently look  to  an  external  Revelation  for  obtaining 
Religious  knowledge. 

Accepting  the  existence  of  a  personal  God  and  the 
spirituality  of  the  human  soul,  it  will  be  impossible  to 
escape  the  conclusion  that  each  individual  soul  owes  its 
being  to  the  creative  act  of  God.  For  the  other  alterna- 
tive, that  the  soul  should  have  its  origin  in  the  genera- 
tive process,  involves  us  in  the  most  insuperable  diffi- 
culties. On  the  one  hand  we  evidently  can  not  admit 
that  physical  generation  could  in  itself  be  productive 
of  a  spiritual  being  ^ — and  we  speak  here  of  a  being  in 
the  sense  in  which  the  scholastics  employ  the  word  sub- 
stance, i.  e.,  an  entity  capable  of  independent  existence. 
It  would  be  to  admit  the  transcended  as  sufficient  cause 
for  the  transcending.  On  the  other  hand,  a  spiritual 
generation  is  impossible,  since  the  soul,  like  all  spiritual 
substances,  is  simple,  and  therefore  has  no  parts  which 
it  could  emit.  There  is  nothing  left,  then,  but  to  ascribe 
the  origin  of  the  individual  soul  to  a  creative  power, 
i.  e.,  to  production  out  of  nothing,  which  postulates  an 

^  Sir  William  Barrett,  "On  the  Threshold  of  the  Unseen,"  p.  285. 

^  Ibid.  ".  .  .  Spiritualism  can  not  even  aflFord  to  us  knowledge  of 
the  supernatural  as  it  is  often  claimed  to  do."  "From  (the  point  of  view 
of  these  systems)  it  is  obvious  Spiritualism  is  not  and  can  not  be  a 
religion,  which  rests  essentially  upon  those  higher  instincts  of  the  soul  we 
call  faith.  For,  as  Canon  Scott  Holland  says  in  the  'Lux  Mundi'  (p.  15)  — 
'Faith  is  the  power  by  which  conscious  life  attaches  itself  to  God.'  " 

^  Div.  Thom.  Aquin.,  Sum,ma  Theol.  I,  Q.  cviii,  a.  2. 


260  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

act  of  a  Creator,  since  simple  becoming  would  be  an 
absurdity — ea:  nihilo  nihil  jit. 

This  in  its  turn  postulates  a  purpose  in  man's 
creation.  And  if  we  admit  immortality,  which  after  all 
is  the  central  belief  in  Spiritism  and  logically  follows 
upon  an  acceptance  of  the  spirituality  of  the  soul,  we 
must  also  admit  that  the  purpose  for  which  man  was 
created  is  to  be  found  in  a  higher,  spiritual  life,  beyond 
the  more  imperfect  earthly  form  from  which  the  soul 
frees  itself  in  death.  Now,  who  will  say  that  it  is  in 
keeping  with  such  a  purpose  that  the  soul,  freed  from 
the  more  imperfect  material  associations  to  which  it 
was  bound  by  its  union  with  the  body,  and  elevated  to 
a  purely  spiritual  life — and,  according  to  conservative 
Christianity,  to  a  life  face  to  face  with  its  Creator — 
should  busy  itself  with  moving  furniture,  producing 
scents  and  little  lights,  making  sundry  noises,  pulling 
people's  hair,  playing  pranks  on  clergymen  and  kissing 
French  and  Italian  investigators  of  the  occult,  all  at 
the  nocturnal  seances  of  some  more  or  less  suspicious 
character  who  will  vie  with  it  in  imitating  the  tricks? 
A  preacher  proposing  such  a  Heaven  would  at  the 
most  find  an  audience  among  the  naughty  children  of 
his  town.  Or,  on  the  whole,  would  it  be  in  keeping 
with  such  purpose  that  the  soul  should  exhaust  itself 
giving  to  mankind  in  the  flesh  evidence,  for  the  most 
part  doubtful,  of  its  continued  existence? 

And  would  we  expect  from  an  infinitely  wise  Creator 
even  to  tempt  the  liberated  soul  to  such  retroaction  by 
failing  to  provide  for  mankind  the  Revelation  it  might 
need  in  order  to  attain  the  end  for  which  it  was  created  ? 
Certainly,  were  a  Revelation  needed,  God  would  not 
leave  its  manifestation  to  chance. 


Granting  the  necessity  of  a  Revelation,  are  we  to 
believe  that  God  has  chosen  and  commissioned  certain 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  261 

souls  to  carry  it  out,  or,  in  general,  that  He  has  selected 
communication  between  the  departed  and  the  living  as 
a  means  of  giving  a  Revelation?  In  other  words,  are 
the  spiritistic  phenomena  the  means  established  by  God 
by  which  we  are  to  receive  the  knowledge  of  the  super- 
natural necessary  for  our  salvation?  If  they  are  not, 
how  can  Spiritism  lay  claim  to  our  religious  belief? 
And  if  they  are,  it  necessarily  must  provide  unmistak- 
able signs  as  a  warrant  for  our  acceptance  of  it. 

We  have  now  come  to  a  point  where  the  spiritistic 
Revelation  is  tentatively  placed  on  the  basis  upon  which 
conservative  Christianity  places  the  Revelation  of 
Christ.  For  to  be  worthy  of  our  religious  attention  it 
must  needs  be  a  Divine  Revelation  carried  out  by 
agencies  with  Divine  Commission. 

Spiritists,  we  have  shown,  are  not  slow  to  make  such 
claim.  And  besides  alleged  proofs  for  spirit-identity, 
of  which  we  have  already  treated,  they  base  it  partly 
upon  the  physical  phenomena  as  being  on  a  par  with 
the  miracles  of  Christ,  partly  on  the  alleged  spirit 
teachings  as  being  particularly  conformable  with  the 
highest  ideals  and  adapted  to  human  needs — as  a  fact, 
in  essence  identical  with  the  teachings  of  Christ.  It  is 
an  odious  comparison. 

If  we  consider  the  physical  phenomena,  particularly 
those  we  have  described  in  the  second  chapter,  trivial 
tricks  of  no  intrinsic  benefit  to  anybody,  performed  in 
a  dark  room  preferably  at  night  and  for  a  monetary 
consideration  at  the  bidding  usually  of  a  hysterical 
woman,  who  has  to  be  controlled  lest  she  should  resort 
to  fraud,  and  if  we  compare  them  with  the  miracles  of 
Christ  as  described  in  the  Scriptures,  great  works  of 
mercy  to  suffering  individuals,  such  as  giving  sight  to 
the  blind,  strength  to  the  lame,  health  to  the  incurably 
diseased,  or  such  works  as  calling  Lazarus  from  death 
and  multiplying  the  five  loaves  and  fishes  to  feed  the 
hungry  multitudes,   all  immediately  useful  and  of  a 


262  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

nature  defying  imitation,  all  done  in  the  open,  in  broad 
daylight,  and  before  men,  all  done  for  no  temporal  con- 
sideration of  gain  or  of  satisfying  the  curious,  but  rather 
that  men  should  believe  that  His  teaching  was  of  God — 
with  such  facts  before  us,  how  can  we  fail  to  see  the 
abysmal  difference  which  separates  the  two  orders?  Is 
it  conceivable  that  God  in  confirmation  of  a  Revelation 
would  cause  or  even  permit  to  be  performed  the  most 
ridiculous  disturbance  in  obscure  seance-rooms  and  by 
a  set  of  individuals  who  time  and  again  have  been  caught 
in  flagrant  fraud?  Somewhere  Gilbert  Chesterton  says 
that  we  would  not  expect  to  hear  the  voice  of  God  is- 
suing from  the  coal  cellar.  Nor  would  we  expect  to 
see  His  finger  in  the  seance-room. 

And  turning  to  the  "spirit-messages,"  do  we  find  in 
their  contents  any  indication  of  a  supernatural  in- 
fluence? Of  the  great  mass  of  recorded  communica- 
tions only  a  very  small  part  has  a  direct  bearing  upon 
Religious  subjects.  Although  not  always  to  his  liking, 
the  doctrines  appearing  in  Mr.  Moses'  script  are  by  no 
means  above  his  own  knowledge  and  intelligence.  Home 
would  deliver  sermons  of  a  very  emotional  kind,  but  so 
far  as  doctrine  is  concerned  inferior  to  those  of  the  Ox- 
ford clergyman.^  The  matter  which  is  found  recorded 
in  the  Proceedings  and  the  Journals  of  the  Societies  for 

^  "He  published  in  the  Spiritual  Magazine  an  account  of  a  beautiful 
vision  of  heaven  and  purple-tinted  clouds  which  had  been  vouchsafed  to 
him.  .  .  .  Home's  'control'  frequently  gave  through  his  mouth 
spiritual  counsel  and  exhortations  to  his  young  friends.  The  names  of 
God,  the  angels,  heaven  w^ere  continually  on  his  lips  when  sitting  in  the 
darkened  seance-room." 

The  following  extract  from  a  letter  of  Home  to  the  Hartford  Times 
describes  the  effect  produced  by  one  of  his  seances  on  a  certain  gentle- 
man: 

"When  at  length  the  light  did  beam  upon  his  soul,  and  the  chords  of 
his  spirit  vibrated  in  unison  with  the  celestial  harmonies  that  ushered 
in  the  birth  through  the  shadows  of  his  old  unbelief,  the  result  was  too 
much  for  his  stoicism,  and  the  tears  of  holy  joy  coursed  down  his  manly 
cheeks.  It  was  an  impressive  scene,  and  an  occasion  of  deep  interest. 
There  are  many  such  in  the  life  of  a  spirit  medium."  (Podmore,  "The 
Newer  Spiritualism,"  p.  43.) 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  263 

Psychical  Research  as  well  as  in  the  Annates  des 
Sciences  Psi/chiques,  etc.,  is  chiefly  concerned  with 
trivial  events  of  the  past,  or  makes  elaborate  reference 
to  literature,  or  simply  builds  puzzles  in  alleged  proof 
of  spirit  identity.  Occasionally  reference  is  made  to 
the  new  life  in  the  world  beyond,  but  no  important  state- 
ment regarding  God,  future  life,  or  human  conduct  is 
to  be  found  except  in  the  automatic  productions  of 
certain  mediums,  outside  of  which  it  is  only  by  strug- 
gling through  an  enormous  mass  of  the  most  confused 
and  often  unintelligible  communications  that  one  is  able 
to  gather  fragments  and  glimpses  of  ideas  which  at  all 
have  a  religious  bearing. 

A  Divine  Revelation  must  by  its  very  nature  present 
objective  truth.  And  since  it  is  only  in  so  far  as  we  are 
unable,  at  least  with  reasonable  facility,  to  know 
naturally  the  truths  necessary  or  expedient  for  us  in 
order  to  realize  the  purpose  for  which  we  are  that  a 
Revelation  becomes  necessary  or  expedient,  it  follows 
that,  if  given,  it  must  be  given  in  a  form  and  under  cir- 
cumstances which  would  render  it  unmistakable. 

In  this  respect  the  Spiritistic  Revelation  is  wanting, 
for  as  we  have  already  pointed  out,  it  is  full  of  contra- 
dictions. It  presents  to  us  a  God,  Who  is  at  the  same 
time  personal  and  impersonal,  omnipotent  and  subject 
to  the  laws  of  nature,  or  Who  is  a  World- Soul;  it  also 
tells  us  that  there  is  no  God,  or  that  He  is  unknowable. 
There  is  a  heaven  and  a  hell,  and  again,  there  is  no  hell. 
Future  existence  is  a  mental  state,  or  it  is  a  life  on  one 
or  many  spirit  spheres,  in  a  tangible  world  with  animals 
and  so  forth.  In  France  the  doctrine  of  Reincarnation 
is  taught,  in  England,  America  and  Germany  this 
doctrine  is  usually  denied.  Besides  teaching  contra- 
dictory doctrines  the  soi-disant  spirits  tell  barefaced  lies. 
Phinuit  insists  upon  having  been  a  French  doctor,  and 
yet  he  knows  no  French,  nor  does  he  know  the  more 
prominent  French  physicians  who  would  have  been  his 


264  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

contemporaries.^  The  Imperator  band  revealed  their 
real  names  to  Mr.  Moses,  who  told  them  under  secrecy 
to  Frederic  Myers;  later  when  controlling  Mrs.  Piper 
they  gave  quite  different  names  as  being  their  real  ones.^ 
The  spirits  also  contradict  each  other.  Thus  "G.  P." 
through  Mrs.  Piper  denies  many  of  the  doctrines  re- 
ceived through  Mr.  Moses — flatly  states  that  they  are 
mitrue — and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  Moses  control  of 
that  medium.^  There  is  not  one  single  statement  in  the 
spirit  communications  referring  to  Religious  doctrine 
that  has  not  in  this  way  been  amply  contradicted.^ 

The  set  of  doctrines  more  usually  presented  in  the 
name  of  Spiritism  by  no  means  corresponds  to  the  re- 
ligious needs  of  man.  The  question  of  a  future  life 
must  be  central  in  any  religious  system,  and  the  hope 
of  Immortality,  of  a  future  life,  brighter  and  happier 
than  that  in  the  "vale  of  sorrows,"  undoubtedly  has  at- 
tracted a  great  many  adherents  to  the  movement.  But 
this  belief  is  not  the  exclusive  property  of  Spiritism, 

^Proceedings,  S.  P.  R.,  viii:50,  and  Raupert,  "Modern  Spiritism,"  pp. 
137-138. 

^Raupert,  Op.  cit.,  p.  140. 

^  Proceedings,  8.  P.  R. 

*  Dr.  William  Potter  in  "Spiritism  as  it  is"  (quoted  from  Raupert 
"Modern  Spiritism,"  p.  199)  says:  "The  teachings  and  theories  given 
through  tlie  different  manifestations  are  as  various  as  it  is  possible  to 
conceive.  Indeed,  few  of  the  most  devoted  'seekers  after  truth  under 
difficulties'  are  aware  of  the  endless  contradictions  and  absurdities  that 
were  mixed  up  with  the  most  exalted  truths  and  the  most  profound 
philosophies."  He  then  presents  some  of  the  more  striking  contradictions. 
Mr.  Raupert  makes  the  following  comment  (Op.  cit.,  p.  202)  :  "The 
writer's  own  experience  and  research  thoroughly  confirm  the  accuracy  of 
this  very  unique  and  typical  summary,  and  although  he  fully  admits  that 
we  do  occasionally  meet  with  intelligences  which  will  give  remarkably 
sensible  and  rational  accounts  of  the  other  world  and  its  life,  and  which 
will  display  a  considerable  amount  of  consistency  and  reasonableness  in 
their  statements  and  assertions,  such  statements  can,  nevertheless,  in  each 
single  instance  be  shown  to  be  contradicted  by  some  assertion  on  the  same 
subject,  made  by  a  different  intelligence  and  through  the  agency  of  a 
different  sensitive." 

Judge  Edmonds  writes  in  "Letters  on  Spiritism,"  p.  96:  "The  spirits, 
though  they  continued  to  manifest  whenever  invited,  and  breathed  nothing 
but  kindness,  good-will,  and  affection,  yet  spoke  so  many  falsehoods  that 
he  was  disgusted  with  the  exhibition." 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  265 

rather,  it  springs  from  the  very  consciousness  of  man 
and  finds  its  echo  in  every  religion,  and  we  even  find  it 
in  the  fantasies  of  the  evolutionist  poet :  ^ 

"God  wrought  our  souls  from  the  Tremadoc  beds 

And  furnished  them  wings  to  fly; 
He  sowed  our  spawn  in  the  world's  dim  dawn, 

And  I  know  that  it  shall  not  die ; 
Though  cities  have  sprung  above  the  graves 

Where  the  crook-boned  men  made  war. 
And  the  ox-wain  creaks  o'er  the  buried  caves. 

Where  the  mummied  mammoths  are." 

Spiritism  holds  out  something  more  than  mere  prom- 
ise and  belief,  for  it  claims  to  give  certainty  of  Immor- 
tality based  on  rock-bottom  scientific  evidence,  and  we 
have  seen  how  a  scrutiny  of  this  evidence  and  some 
logical  thinking  scatters  it  to  the  winds.  If  such  cer- 
tainty is  what  we  seek  in  Spiritism  we  shall  meet  with 
disappointment. 

Again,  on  its  practical  side  Religion  should  give 
guidance  to  moral  conduct.  It  is  essentially  the  func- 
tion of  Religion  to  teach  man  how  to  live  in  order  to 
reached  his  ultimate  destination,  and  there  is  no  need  for 
pointing  out  the  prominence  of  positive  moral  teach- 
ing both  in  the  Old  and  in  the  New  Testament  and  in 
conservative  Christianity  in  all  ages.  Nor  is  such  teach- 
ing lacking  in  other  religious  systems,  such  as  for  in- 
stance the  Jewish  Religion  and  Mohammedanism. 
Spiritism  on  the  other  hand  shows  an  almost  complete 
absence  of  tangible  moral  doctrine,  and  in  this  respect 
it  reveals  its  utter  insufficiency  and  weakness  as  a 
practical  Religion. 

The  very  notion  of  Religion  implies  a  relation  be- 
tween man  and  God  which  can  not  be  understood  or 
appreciated  without  a  certain  knowledge  of  God.  And 
on    this    point   the    Spiritistic    Religion    breaks    down 

*  Langdon  Smith,  "Evolution"  No.  xiii. 


266  Spiritism  as  a  Religion 

miserably,  for  while  in  many  quarters  the  existence  of 
God  is  accepted,  yet  the  possibility  of  knowing  Him  is 
denied,  which  fact  to  all  practical  purposes  leaves  Him 
outside  the  system,  and  Spiritism  becomes  a  Religion 
without  a  God. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the  consequences  of  such 
a  position  must  be  far-reaching.  The  denial  of  the  Di- 
vinity of  Christ  and  of  His  redemptive  work  follows  of 
necessity,  and  both  His  example  and  doctrine  become 
arbitrary.  This  in  its  turn  leaves  man  as  his  own  re- 
deemer, and  renders  him  in  the  highest  degree  self-suffi- 
cient, giving  supreme  authority  to  reason  and  self-will. 
And  here  the  level  of  pure  paganism  is  reached  accord- 
ing to  which  there  is  no  authority  above  man,^  who 
should  not  trust  in  God,  nor  weary  Him  with  his 
prayers,  but  reach  virtue  and  happiness  by  his  own 
powers.^  To  the  inquiring  intellect  the  Religion  of 
Spiritism  has  therefore  nothing  to  offer  beyond  the  ca- 
pacity of  philosophy. 

Again,  the  aloofness  of  the  Divinity  removes  from 
man  every  ideal  beyond  the  abstraction  and  projection 
of  Self.  There  can  be  no  possibility  of  love  of  God  un- 
less this  projected  Self  be  substituted  for  the  Deity,  in 
which  case  it  is  apt  to  redound  to  supreme  egotism.  And 
so  far  as  love  of  neighbour  is  concerned  there  is  no  rea- 
son for  it  in  the  concrete  other  than  expediency,  and  in 
the  abstract  it  can  extend  to  his  ideals  only  in  so  far  as 
they  coincide  with  one's  own.  The  Christian  link  of 
love  based  upon  a  common  sonship  must  necessarily  dis- 
appear with  the  fatherhood  of  God. 

All  higher  sanction  of  morality  is  removed,  for  the 
will  of  the  unknowable  Deity  can  not  be  known  beyond 
its  own  expression  in  nature,  whose  dictates  therefore 

'  "Sapiens  cum  diis  ex  pari  vivit."     Seneca,  Ep.  59,  14. 

-"Est  aliquid  quo  sapiens  antecedat  Deum:  ille  beneficio  naturae  non 
timet,  suo  sapiens";  "hinc  non  Deo,  sed  sibi  fidet,  nee  precibus  Deum 
fatigat,  sed  per  proprios  vires  virtutem  et  felicitatem  attingit."  Idem, 
Ep.  53,  13,  and  31. 


Spiritism  as  a  Religion  267 

become  the  supreme  norm^  There  can  be  no  punish- 
ment or  reward  beyond  that  of  nature  (and  logically 
Hell  has  been  abolished).  In  its  ultimate  analysis  sin 
becomes  analogous  with  inexpediency. 

There  will  be  nothing  to  satisfy  the  cravings  in  man 
for  something  external  higher:  worship  and  prayer  be- 
come terms  without  a  meaning,  and  the  only  consolation 
for  the  soul  seeking  solace  beyond  the  evasive  shadows 
of  earthly  love  will  be  found  in  imagined  communion 
with  those  once  dear  in  this  life,  who  have  passed  into 
the  beyond.  In  this  all  present  comfort,  all  future  hope 
become  concentrated — the  restoration  of  those  earthly 
bonds  of  love  and  friendship,  which  have  been  broken 
by  death — and  the  godless  Religion  begets  its  own  gods. 

Thus  the  Religion  of  Spiritism  having  deprived  man 
of  all  transcendent  ideals  and  aspirations,  leaves  him  en- 
tirely to  himself,  a  slave  to  his  own  limitations  and  a 
victim  of  his  own  imperfections.  And  all  this  could  be 
reached  without  a  Revelation  from  the  beyond.  It  is 
the  very  antithesis  of  Christianity,  to  which  the  Eternal 
Word  has  come  into  the  world  to  be  all  things  to  all 
men,  to  be  "the  true  light  which  enlighteneth  every  man 
that  Cometh  into  this  world,"  so  that  divesting  himself 
of  himself  man  may  be  free  to  follow  Him  Who  is  "the 
Way,  the  Truth,  and  Life,"  and  thus  to  find  his  rest 
and  soothe  his  longings  not  in  the  fragmentary  shadows 
of  introspective  contemplation  of  the  Deity,  but  in  see- 
ing God  face  to  face. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  present  work  we  stated  our 
position  regarding  the  relation  of  Theology  to  an  in- 
vestigation of  Spiritism.  A  study  of  the  best  authenti- 
cated phenomena  on  record  has  failed  to  show  evidence 
for  other  than  natural  causes,  and,  consequently,  we 
have  arrived  at  the  conclusion  that  Spiritism  cannot 
be  shown  to  contain  a  preternatural  element. 

Many  theological  writers  have  viewed  the  question  in 
another  light  and  accepted  the  phenomena  and  medium- 
ship  as  at  least  in  part  preternatural.  Among  Catholic 
exponents  of  this  view  we  find  Father  Perrone  of  the 
Society  of  Jesus  ^  and  Mr.  Godfrey  Raupert,"  a  former 
Spiritist.  We  shall  not  enter  upon  a  discussion  of  their 
views,  but  refer  for  our  contrary  position  to  our  chapters 
on  Gennine  and  Spurious  Phenomena,  Sjnritism  and 
Psychology,  and  Spirit  Identity. 

On  the  other  hand,  as  we  have  set  forth  in  these 
chapters,  we  do  not  think  that  positive  proof  can  be 
given  for  the  total  absence  of  preternatural  causation 
in  the  ensemble  of  the  phenomena.  For  while  it  has 
been  possible  to  explain  them  away  by  appealing  to 
automatic  activity  of  ''secondary  personalities,"  sub- 
liminal memory  and  impressions,  telepathy,  and  so 
forth,  it  may  also  be  possible  that  in  individual  instances 
there  has  actually  been  present  an  influence  from  a 
spirit  world.  If  we  grant  this  possibility,  it  is  more 
than  likely  that  this  element  would  be  of  a  diabolical 
order.  The  assumption  that  God  would  allow  departed 
human  beings,  whether  in  a  probationary  state  or  after 

'  "De  Virtute  Religionis." 

'  "Modern  Spiritism,"  "Dangers  of  Spiritualism." 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  269 

they  have  attained  their  supernatural  end,  to  cause  the 
phenomena  presented  by  Spiritism  is,  as  we  have  said 
in  the  preceding  chapter,  preposterous.  And,  besides, 
whence  does  a  discarnate  soul  receive  the  power  neces- 
sary for  their  performance? 

Mr.  Raupert  finds  positive  proof  for  diabolical 
agency  in  Spiritism  in  the  moral  depravation  which  he 
has  been  able  to  notice  in  mediums,  and  in  those  in  gen- 
eral who  take  part  in  spiritistic  practices,^  but  in  our 
survey  we  have  been  unable  to  find  evidence  for  the  sup- 
port of  this  claim.  There  is  no  denial  of  the  fact  that 
injudicious  use  of  hypnotism  and  of  suggestion  in  the 
trance  will  bring  about  disastrous  results,  as  shown  for 
instance  in  the  case  of  Dr.  Forel's  subject,  who  under 
the  influence  of  repeated  induction  of  somnambulism 
by  university  students,  spiritists,  etc.,  had  developed 
a  "secondary  personality"  exhibiting  the  gravest  moral 
depravity,  which  had  become  permanent  with  her.  But 
there  were  no  devils  in  the  case,  outside  of  the  afore- 
said students  and  spiritists,  as  may  be  amply  shown  by 
the  fact  that  proper  hypnotic  treatment  under  the  skill- 
ful care  of  Dr.  Forel  gradually  restored  this  un- 
fortunate woman  to  her  former  and  better  self.^ 

All  Catholic  Theologians,  however,  who  treat  of  the 
subject,  uphold  the  view  that  where  a  preternatural  ele- 
ment is  found  in  Spiritism  it  is  to  be  referred  to  the 
agency  of  evil  spirits  rather  than  to  that  of  souls  of  the 
departed,  and  their  opinion  was  shared  by  many 
spiritists  in  the  early  stages  of  the  movement,^  and  finds 
support  among  Protestant  Clergymen.^ 

While  theological  opinion  strongly  leans  towards 
diabolical    agency    in    spiritistic    phenomena    and    in 

'^  "Dangers  of  Spiritualism";  see  also  Lapponi,  "Ipnotismo  e  Spiritismo," 
pp.  229  et  seq. 

^See  p.  189,  note. 

^  See  T.  L.  Harris,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  and  "Arcana  of  Chris- 
tianity," and  also  Dialectical  Report,  pp.  218,  220,  223. 

*  Podmore,  "Modern  Spiritualism,"  vol.  II,  p.   168,  note  4. 


270  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

inediumship,  no  definite  conclusion  will  be  reached  on 
this  point  unless  positive  proof  for  preternatural 
causation  should  be  forthcoming.  In  the  meantime — 
as  the  question  stands — we  should  take  warning  of  the 
dangers  which  may  be  hidden  in  Spiritism. 


Quite  apart  from  the  question  of  actual  intercourse 
with  spirits,  whether  with  those  of  the  dead  or  with 
demons,  Spiritism  has  its  theological  aspects.  We  have 
treated  of  Spiritism  as  a  Religion,  that  is,  broadly,  the 
dogmatic  aspect  of  its  religious  claims  and  teachings. 
It  remains  to  discuss  Spiritism  from  a  moral  point  of 
view,  that  is  to  say  from  the  point  of  view  of  our  con- 
duct towards  its  teachings  and  practices. 

Needless  to  say,  as  Christians  we  cannot  accept  a 
Religion  which  is  opposed  to  Christianity.  But 
Spiritism  is  often  found  to  embody  beliefs  which  are 
in  harmony  with  Christian  teachings,  such  as,  for 
instance,  the  belief  in  a  purgative  state  of  the  soul  after 
death,  in  which  state  the  soul  may  communicate  with 
the  living.  No  doubt,  such  teachings  smack  of  the 
doctrines  of  Purgatory  and  of  the  Communion  of 
Saints.  Would  it  be  licit,  then,  to  add  to  our  present 
notions  of  these  doctrines  as  presented  by  the  teaching 
authority  of  the  Church  those  supplied  by  Spiritism 
which  do  not  contradict  the  former?  The  answer  is 
very  obvious  since  additional  knowledge  of  such  and 
similar  kind  could  be  obtained  only  by  means  of  a  new 
Revelation,  which  we  have  shown  not  to  be  furnished 
by  means  of  mediumistic  communications.  It  would 
unreservedly  be  an  act  of  superstition  to  embody  any  of 
the  teachings  of  Spiritism  in  our  religious  belief,  no  mat- 
ter how  well  they  may  seem  to  supplement  Christian 
doctrine.  We  might  as  well  draw  from  our  own 
fancies. 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  271 

The  practices  of  Spiritism  as  such  postulate  at  least 
attempted  evocation  of  the  souls  of  the  departed  for  the 
purpose  of  gaining  knowledge  otherwise  hidden  or  to 
produce  extraordinary  effects.  From  this  point  of  view 
it  is  not  an  entirely  new  art,  for  similar  practices,  as 
mentioned  in  our  Introduction,  have  been  recorded  since 
very  remote  ages  under  the  name  of  Necromancy.  They 
have  always  been  held  gravely  illicit,  both  among  the 
Hebrews  and  by  the  Church. 

Among  the  Hebrews  persons  having  a  "divining  or 
pythonical  spirit,"  that  is,  those  by  whom  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  were  evoked,  were  deemed  worthy  of  death: 
"A  man  or  a  woman,  in  whom  there  is  a  pythonical  or 
divining  spirit,  dying,  let  them  die;  they  shall  stone 
them;  their  blood  be  upon  them."  ^  The  mere  consulta- 
tion of  such  persons  was  considered  a  horrible  crime; 
the  Lord  will  destroy  a  soul  who  goes  after  magicians 
and  soothsayers,  or  who  observes  dreams  and  omens  or 
consults  fortune-tellers,  or  who  seeks  the  truth  from  the 
dead." 

Theologians  classify  necromancy  as  a  kind  of  divina- 
tion, consisting  in  an  explicit  invocation  of  demons  for 
the  purpose  of  obtaining  otherwise  hidden  truth.  Saint 
Thomas  Aquinas  says  that  expressly  evoked  demons  are 
wont  to  foretell  future  events  in  many  ways,  but  at 
times  through  the  apparitions  or  speech  of  the  departed, 

^  Levit.  xx:27,  cfr.  I.  Kings  xxviii:9. 

-  "The  soul  shall  go  aside  after  magicians  and  soothsayers  and  shall 
commit  fornication  with  them,  I  will  set  my  face  against  that  soul,  and 
destroy  it  out  of  the  midst  of  its  people."     Levit.  xx:6. 

"Neither  let  there  be  found  among  you  any  one  that  .  .  .  con- 
sulteth  soothsayers,  or  observeth  dreams  and  omens,  .  .  .  nor  charmer, 
nor  any  one  that  consulteth  pythonic  spirits,  or  fortune-tellers,  or  that 
seek  the  truth  from  the  dead.  For  the  Lord  abhorreth  all  these  things, 
and  for  these  abominations  he  will  destroy  them  at  thy  coming."  Deuter, 
xviii:  10-12. 

In  other  passages  similar  practices  are  condemned. 

IV  Kings  xvii:17;  xxi:6;  xxiii:24;  Isaias  viii:  19-20,  etc.;  Acts  viii: 
9  et  seq. ;  xiii:6-10. 


272  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

and  this  kind  is  called  necromancy.^  Again  he  says  that 
there  are  three  kinds  of  divination,  the  first  of  which 
consists  in  manifest  invocation  of  demons,  which  is  part 
of  necromantic  practices."  Saint  Alphonsus  Ligouri 
defines  necromancy  as  an  explicit  invocation  or  pact 
with  the  devil,  as  when  he  teaches  through  Phytons  or 
through  the  persons  of  the  dead  or  of  appearing  hu- 
man beings.^  In  this  regard  the  Theologians  do  not 
base  their  distinction  between  implicit  and  explicit 
evocation  of  demons  upon  the  intention  of  the  person 
evoking  them,  but  rather  upon  the  contingency  whether 
or  not  spirits  are  evoked,  since  no  matter  wliat  spirits 
are  intended  only  the  demons  respond  to  the  evocation. 
Furthermore,  they  assume  that  the  purpose  of  evoking 
the  spirits  is  to  obtain  knowledge  of  contingent  and  free 
future  events  and  of  otherwise  occult  and  unknowable 
things.^  The  malice  of  divination,  and  consequently  of 
necromancy,  arises  partly  from  the  fact  that  its  practice 
implies  paying  divine  honors  to  creatures  by  expecting 
from  them  what  should  be  expected  only  from  God, 
partly  from  the  pact  with  the  devil.^ 

Our  study  of  the  phenomena  of  Spiritism  has  led  us 
to  the  conclusion  that  they  do  not  exceed  the  powers  of 
nature  and  that,  where  deliberate  fraud  is  absent,  they 

^  "Daemones  autem  expresse  invocati  solent  futura  praenuntiare  multi- 
plicater:  .  .  .  quandoque  vero  per  mortuorum  aliquorum  appari- 
tionem,  vel  locutionem:  et  haec  species  vocatur  necromantia."  i^umma 
Theol.  2,  2fF,  Q.  xcv,  a.  3,  in  corp. 

^  "Sic  ergo  patet,  triplex  esse  divinations  genus:  quorum  primum  est 
per  manifostam  daemonum  invocationem ;  quod  pertinet  ad  necroman- 
ticos" ;  Op.  cit.  2,  2ff',  Q.  xcv,  a.  3,  in  fine  corporis. 

•'' "Divinatio  est  duplex:  una,  in  qua  est  invocatio,  vel  pactum  expres- 
8um  cum  daemone,  et  generali  nomine  dicitur  Necromantia:  ut,  cum 
Daemon  occulta  docet  per  Pythones  .  .  .  per  personas  mortuorum, 
vel  virorum  apparentium."  Theologia  Moralis,"  Tom.  I,  lib.  iii,  no.  6, 
cfr.  Suarez,  "De  Religione,"  Tom.  I,  Tract.  Ill,  lib.  ii,  cap.  viii.  no.  et  3. 

*  St.  Alphonsus,  Op.  cit.,  lib.  iii,  no.  .5:  "Divinatio  est,  cum  quis  opem 
daemonis  tacite,  vel  expresse  invocat,  ut  noscat  res  contingentes  et  libere 
futuras,  aliterve  occultas  et  naturaliter  incognoscibiles." 

*  St.  Alphonsus,  Op.  cit.,  lib.  iii,  no.  15. 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  273 

can  be  referred  to  psychological  causes.  Modern 
manuals  of  Moral  Theology  do  not  support  our  view, 
but  it  is  to  be  noted  that  Theologians  have  referred  the 
phenomena  to  diabolic  agencies  only  where  a  natural 
causation  would  be  inadequate  for  their  explanation. 
Of  course,  this  standpoint  must  be  admitted,  but  at  the 
same  time  it  must  be  admitted  that  Psychical  Research 
has  failed  to  show  the  inadequacy  of  a  natural  causation 
in  the  vast  quantity  of  phenomena  which  has  fallen 
under  its  investigation.  We  believe  that  the  devil  not 
only  can  but  actually  does  interfere  in  the  order  of 
things,  as  has  been  shown  for  instance  in  cases  of  dia- 
bolic possession,  but  no  case  should  be  accepted  as  dia- 
bolical in  the  absence  of  sufficient  evidence.  It  is  pos- 
sible, then,  that  spiritistic  phenomena  have  been  pre- 
ternaturally  caused,  but,  on  the  other  hand,  over  thirty 
years  of  careful  investigation  on  two  continents  have 
failed  to  produce  evidence  for  such  contingency.  In 
themselves,  then,  apart  from  their  interpretation,  the 
phenomena  generally  speaking  must  be  held  to  be  of  a 
non-moral  character. 

This  verdict,  however,  is  complicated  by  the  circum- 
stances under  which  the  phenomena  occur.  We  do  not 
speak  of  those  fraudulently  produced,  for  it  is  evident 
that  such  practice  cannot  be  licit.  The  genuine  phe- 
nomena, taken  as  a  whole,  depend  upon  automatic 
action  on  the  part  of  the  medium,  exerted  under  the  in- 
fluence of  a  "secondary  personality,"  that  is  to  say,  in 
a  state  of  dissociation  of  the  rational  faculties.  This 
dissociation  is  usually  sufficiently  advanced  to  constitute 
the  trance  state,  which  is  comparable  with  the  somnam- 
bulistic state  induced  in  hypnotism.  First  of  all,  we 
have  to  inquire  into  the  lawfulness  of  inducing  this  state 
for  the  purpose  of  producing  spiritistic  phenomena. 
And  besides  we  have  to  take  into  consideration  the  fact 
that  the  medium  usually  interprets  her  "secondary  per- 
sonality" as  being  an  external  spirit  taking  possession 
of  her. 


274  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

Induction  of  the  somnambulistic  state,  i.  e.,  in  a 
broad  sense,  of  Hypnotism,  is  harmful  to  physical 
health  as  well  as  to  morality.  It  arouses  latent  hys- 
terical nerves,  and  if  often  repeated  tends  to  make  the 
hypnotic  state  habitual.^  While  under  the  supervision  of 
skilled  medical  men  suggestion  in  the  somnambulistic  or 
in  the  waking  state  may  be  of  highest  therapeutic  value, 
its  exercise  by  the  unskilled  layman  usually  leads  to  dis- 
astrous results.  This  is  true  also  of  autosuggestion. 
Dr.  Forel  holds  that  the  harm  and  the  crime  resulting 
from  suggestion  should  be  blamed  chiefly  upon  lay  peo- 
ple and  in  particular  upon  Spiritists  who  encourage  the 
often-hysterical  mediums  to  actions  which  are  greatly 
derogatory  to  their  health."  An  indiscriminate  use  of 
suggestion,  or  even  encouragement  of  autosuggestion, 
is  therefore  gravely  wrong,  and  must  receive  the  most 
severe  condemnation. 

Apart  from  this  consideration  the  trance-state  in- 
volves a  more  or  less  complete  surrender  of  one's 
rational  faculties,  particularly  of  the  will.  The  law- 
fulness of  voluntary  deprivation  of  reason  is  disputed 
among  Theologians,  the  more  probable  opinion  being 
that  it  can  be  allowed  only  when  brought  about  indi- 
rectly and  for  a  grave  reason.^ 

Theologians  admit  the  lawfulness  of  the  use  of  hypno- 
tism in  medical  practice  ^  and  Genicot  extends  this  per- 

'  Lapponi,  Op.  cit.,  p.  225. 

-  "Tatsiichlich  sind  die  Schiidigungen  und  die  Verbrechen,  die  der  Sug- 
gestion zuzusclireihen  sind,  meistens  das  Werk  von  Laien,  besonders  von 
Spiriten.  Diese  Leute  liegreifen  gar  nicht,  dass  sie  mit  dem  Gehirn  ihrer 
meistens  hysterischen  "Medien"  arbeiten,  und  muten  denselben  Dinge  zu, 
die  schliesslich  die  Gesundheit  schwer  schiidigen,  wenn  nicht  noch  Betrug 
oder  Attentate  hinzukommen.  Fcirmliche  Epidemien  von  hysterischen 
Anfiillen,  Autohypnosen  u.  dergl.  m.  sind  schon  dadurch  entstanden." — 
Forel  "Hypnotismus,"  p.  273. 

^  St.  Alphonsus,  Op.  cit.,  lib.  v,  no.  76 ;  cfr.  St.  Thomas,  Summa  Theol. 
i,  2rr,  Q.  Ixxxviii,  a.  f). 

*  Sabetti -Barrett,  "Comp.  Theol.  Moral.,"  no.  209,  Resp.  4°  :  "non  omnes 
et  absolute  damnandos  esse  qui  vellent,  adhibitis  cautelis,  hypnotismum 
experiri  ad  bonnm  fincm,  v.  gr.,  ad  curandos  morbos  aliter  non  sanabiles." 

See  also  Lehmkuhl,  "Theol.  Moral.,"  vol.  I,  no.  502,  D'Annibale, 
"Summula  Theol.  Moral.,"  vol.  II,  no.  53,  n. 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  275 

mission  to  cover  cases  of  promoting  knowledge  in 
sciences  such  as  psychology  and  medicine.^  There  is  no 
reason  why  such  permission  should  not  include  auto- 
suggestion. The  Holy  Office,  pronouncing  upon  ex- 
periments in  suggestion  undertaken  in  the  name  of 
medical  science,  forbids  experiments  with  phenomena 
which  for  certain  exceed  the  powers  of  nature,  but 
tolerates  those  which  are  doubtful,  and,  a  fortiori,  those 
which  are  certainly  natural." 

For  the  present  we  shall  not  consider  the  medium's 
interpretation  of  the  phenomena.  It  is  true  that  al- 
most all  genuine  mediums  interpret  them  in  the 
spiritistic  sense,  and  it  is  questionable  if  such  an  inter- 
pretation at  length  can  be  avoided  since,  at  least  in  the 
psychical  and  the  majority  of  the  physical  phenomena, 
this  subliminal  interpretation  is  a  necessary  condition 
for  their  successful  production.  It  would  be  difficult 
to  conceive,  v.  g.,  Mrs.  Piper  producing  automatic 
script  without  at  least  in  her  trance-state  subliminally 
interpreting  her  "secondary  personality"  or  "dissociated 
polygon"  as  being  the  person  purporting  to  communi- 
cate. The  history  of  Spiritism  bears  out  this  as- 
sumption, for  the  great  majority  of  mediums  are  con- 
vinced of  the  distinct  individuality  of  their  "controls." 
But  we  shall  discuss  this  point  further  in  connection 
with  the  subjective  nature  of  the  phenomena. 

^  Genicot,  "Theol.  Moral."  vol.  I,  no.  265. 

^  "N.  N.  artis  medieae  doctor,  ad  pedes  Sanctitatis  Vestrae  provolutus, 
ut  suae  conscientiae  consulat,  humiliter  petit,  an  liceat  sibi  partem  habere 
in  disputationibus,  quae  fiunt  a  societate  scientiarum  medicarum,  de  sug- 
gestionibus  in  cura  puerorum  infirmorum.  Agitur  non  de  discutiendis 
tantum  experimentis  iam  factis,  sed  etiam  de  novis  experimentis  agendis, 
sive  haec  rationibus  naturalibus  explicari  possint,  sive  non.     .     .     ." 

Responsum  est:  "Quoad  experimenta  iam  facta  permitti  posse,  modo 
absit  periculum  superstitionis  et  scandali :  et  insuper  orator  paratus  sit 
stare  mandatis  S.  Sedis,  et  partes  theologi  non  agant.  Quoad  nova  ex- 
perimenta, si  agatur  de  factis,  quae  certo  naturae  vires  praeter- 
gradiantur,  non  licere;  sin  vero  de  hoc  dubitetur,  praemissa  protesta- 
tione  nullam  partem  haberi  velle  in  factis  praeternaturalibus,  tolerandum, 
modo  absit  periculum  scandali. — S.  0.  I.,  26,  iul.,  1889. 


276  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

From  what  has  been  said  we  may  conclude  that  so 
far  as  the  objective  nature  of  the  phenomena  is  con- 
cerned, that  is,  quite  apart  from  their  interpretation, 
they  can  not  be  absohitely  and  unconditionally  con- 
demned as  in  themselves  illicit. 

The  subjective  nature  of  the  phenomena  is  to  be 
found  in  their  interpretation  in  the  mind  of  the  sitters 
and  of  the  medium.  In  spiritistic  practices  properly  so 
called  the  phenomena,  no  matter  what  be  their  actual 
nature,  are  referred  to  the  agency  of  the  souls  of  the 
departed.  From  a  theological  point  of  view  we  must 
return,  then,  to  what  has  been  said  in  regard  to 
necromancy  and  consider  the  phenomena,  this  time  in 
their  subjective  nature,  in  connection  with  diabolical 
evocation  and  with  paying  tribute  to  creatures  which  is 
due  to  God  alone.  Of  course  the  question  largely  de- 
pends upon  the  contingency  whether  or  not  activity  in 
our  world  on  the  part  of  the  departed  and  by  their 
own  power  is  at  all  thinkable. 

The  Theologians  whom  we  have  quoted  deny  that 
such  power  could  be  natural  to  the  discarnate  soul. 
First  of  all,  in  the  present  life  the  soul  has  no  power 
over  matter  except  that  which  it  exercises  through  the 
body  with  which  it  is  united.  This  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  its  power  over  the  limbs  of  its  body  totally  ceases 
in  the  case  of  a  limb  which  withers.  It  is  in  the  nature 
of  the  soul  to  be  the  lifegiving  principle  of  its  own  body, 
but  this  nature  implies  no  immediate  power  over  other 
material  things.  Hence,  the  nature  of  the  soul  remain- 
ing unchanged  after  death,  it  could  be  in  possession  of 
no  power  over  matter  in  the  separated  state. 

But  this  argument  is  by  no  means  convincing.  We 
must  admit  that  we  have  no  absolute  knowledge  of  the 
nature  of  the  soul — as  a  fact  it  is  such  knowledge  that 
is  sought  in  spiritistic  experiments.  From  the  fact  that 
the  soul  wliile  united  with  the  body  displays  no  power 
over  objects  outside  of  its  organism,  it  does  not  follow 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  277 

that  it  does  not  possess  such  power,  for  its  failure  to 
display  it  may  depend  simply  upon  its  limitation  to  the 
body  by  the  very  fact  of  its  being  united  with  it.  It 
remains  certain  that  the  soul  has  power  over  material 
things,  since  it  acts  upon  the  body,  and  it  is  by  no  means 
clear  why  this  power  should  disappear  with  death. 

Theologians  do  not  deny  the  possibility  of  a  purely 
spiritual  being  exerting  power  over  matter,  rather  they 
affirm  it  as  an  actuality  in  the  case  of  angels  and  demons 
who  are  capable  not  only  of  effecting  locomotion  of  ma- 
terial objects,  but  also  of  producing  effects  of  sense  in 
the  imagination  of  man.^ 

From  this  admission  it  follows  that  the  nature  of  a 
purely  spiritual  substance  does  not  exclude  the  posses- 
sion of  such  power,  for  which  reason  we  think  that  on 
purely  philosophical  grounds  it  can  not  be  denied  in  the 
case  of  discarnate  souls. 

However,  the  assumption  that  the  discarnate  soul 
should  actually  have  power  to  interfere  in  our  world 
militates  against  human  experiences,  for  if  possessed 
it  would  evidently  have  a  purpose  and  consequently  be 
exercised.  Now,  it  is  precisely  in  spiritistic  practices 
that  this  power  is  claimed  to  be  exercised,  and,  yet,  in- 
vestigation so  far  not  only  has  been  unable  to  confirm 
this  claim  even  in  a  single  case,  but  has  actually  brought 
strong,  although  not  conclusive,  evidence  against  it. 

Again,  it  may  be  said  that  although  the  discarnate 
soul  may  have  no  power  to  affect  material  objects, 
still,  in  a  purely  spiritual  manner  it  may  be  able  to 
communicate  with  the  souls  of  living  human  beings. 
The  existence  of  a  manner  of  communication  from 
mind  to  mind  outside  the  ordinary  channels  of  sense  in 
what  is  known  as  telepathy  and  thought  transference 
is  fairly  well  established,  and  this  may  just  be  the  means 
by  which  a  discarnate  soul  can  communicate  directly 

^  St.  Thomas,  "Summa  Theol.,"  I,  Q.  ex,  a.  2;  Q.  cxi,  a.  3  et  4. 


278  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

with  one  still  in  the  flesh.  This,  indeed,  is  in  itself  pos- 
sible, but  it  does  not  follow  from  the  fact  of  telepathic 
communication  between  the  living,  for  we  cannot  show 
that  the  nature  of  such  communication  is  purely 
psychological. 

Our  argument  so  far  has  failed  to  justify  an  a  jmori 
attitude  of  rejecting  the  possibility  of  interference  in 
the  material  world  or  of  communication  on  the  part  of 
discarnate  souls.  Nor  is  it  likely  that  positive  experi- 
mental evidence  will  be  found  in  support  of  such  an  at- 
titude, although  the  negative  evidence  brought  forth 
by  Psychical  Research  goes  to  show  that  de  facto  such 
interference  or  communication  do  not  take  place.  If 
we  turn  to  Holy  Writ  we  shall  find  in  the  texts  already 
quoted  a  clear  indication  that  under  any  circumstances 
practices  of  evoking  the  souls  of  the  departed  are 
gravely  illicit.  At  the  same  time  our  texts  do  not  show 
that  these  practices  necessarily  involve  diabolic  inter- 
course. Yet,  the  prohibition  against  them  is  more  than 
mere  positive  law,  for  to  God  they  are  said  to  be  an 
abomination,  and  a  human  being  indulging  in  them  is 
deemed  worthy  of  destruction.  Such  terms  would  indi- 
cate a  transgression  against  nature  which  would  bear 
out  our  teleological  argument  in  the  preceding  chapter. 

If  we  now  return  to  the  original  question  of  diabolic 
intercourse  in  practices  of  evoking  the  spirits  of  the 
dead,  it  seems  that  subjectively  considered  the  practices 
of  Spiritism  need  not  involve  such  malice.  First  of  all, 
the  intention  of  the  medium  and  of  the  sitters  is  not  to 
evoke  demons,  but  to  establish  communication  with  the 
dead.  Whether  or  not  seances,  generally  speaking, 
should  be  considered  to  involve  formal  and  explicit 
evocation  of  the  dead  is  difficult  to  determine,  but  often 
this  seems  to  be  the  case  when  the  medium  accommo- 
dates sitters  desirous  of  communicating  with  a  certain 
deceased  person.  Granting  that  the  evocation  of  the 
dead  de  facto  would  be  impossible,  the  only  other  alter- 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  279 

native  is  by  no  means  to  be  found  in  communication 
with  demons,  for  the  experimental  evidence  at  hand  in 
every  case  points  to  Hving  human  minds  as  the  source 
of  the  alleged  communications  or  to  the  automatism  of 
the  medimii  as  that  of  the  physical  phenomena.  It  can- 
not, therefore,  be  said  that  attempted  intercourse  with 
the  departed  necessarily  implies  evocation  of  demons. 
Nor  can  we  draw  such  a  conclusion  from  the  purpose  of 
spiritistic  practices  in  general;  for  to  a  large  extent  the 
truth  sought  for  is  not  in  excess  of  the  capacity  of  the 
human  mind,  and  if  our  records  are  correct  the  truth 
and  untruth  which  the  messages  convey  have  not  been 
of  a  transcendental  order.  On  the  other  hand,  we 
should  not  deny  that  spiritistic  practices  may  be  carried 
within  the  ken  of  superstitions,  such  as  divination  and 
vain  observances.  Whether  or  not  this  is  actually  the 
case  must,  however,  be  determined  in  individual  in- 
stances. 

The  basic  malice  in  spiritistic  practices  is  to  be  found 
in  their  opposition  to  the  virtue  of  Religion  in  that  they 
explicitly  attribute  to  creatures  what  belongs  to  God 
alone.  For  our  knowledge  of  a  future  life  and  of  those 
who  have  already  entered  upon  it  can  come  only  from 
God.  To  seek  it  from  the  spirits  of  the  departed,  then, 
is  not  only  vain  and  useless,  but  is  an  explicit  paying 
of  divine  honor  and  tribute  to  them.  Besides  this  basic 
malice  of  superstition  the  spiritistic  practices  involve  a 
direct  danger  of  religious  perversion  in  so  far  as  the 
lucubrations  of  the  mediums  are  accepted  as  revealed  re- 
ligious truths.  But  we  have  already  dealt  sufficiently 
with  this  point.  Finally,  although  remote,  the  danger 
of  diabolical  intercourse  can  not  be  said  to  be  totally 
absent. 


From  what  we  have  said  it  follows  that  the  practice 
of  Spiritism,  whether  as  medium  or  as  inquirer,  can 


280  Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism 

under  no  circumstances  escape  the  condemnation  of  be- 
ing gravely  illicit.  In  confirmation  of  this  conclusion 
we  refer  to  the  decree  of  the  Holy  Office  of  March  30, 
1898.' 

On  the  other  hand  it  can  not  be  denied  that  scientifi- 
cally conducted  experiments  with  mediums  both  have 
led  to  advancement  in  psychological  science  and  helped 
to  check  the  spread  of  superstition  by  uncovering  fraud 
and  furnishing  natural  explanations  of  the  phenomena. 
We  have  shown  that  considering  the  objective  nature  of 
the  phenomena  in  itself  there  is  nothing  unlawful  in 
their  provocation  so  long  as  the  medium  is  safeguarded 
against  injury.  But  even  though  the  investigator 
should  be  immune  from  superstition,  this  is  rarely  the 
case  with  the  medium. 

Till  recently  Theologians  have  considered  it  allow- 
able to  join  a  circle  already  prepared  for  performance 
if  the  sitter  in  question  renounces  all  intercourse  with 
spirits,  and  takes  a  merely  passive  part  in  the  perform- 
ance as  such,  provided  that  there  is  a  laudable  reason 
for  participation,  such  as  investigation  of  the  causes  of 
the  phenomena  or  exposure  of  fraud,  and  that  all 
danger  of  perversion  and  scandal  is  excluded.  For 
under  such  circumstances  his  cooperation  is  remote  and 
given  for  a  grave  reason. 


^  Quaesitum :  "Titius  exclusa  omni  conventione  cum  spiritu  maligno, 
evocare  solet  animas  defunctorum.  Ita  procedit:  Solus,  sine  quibuscum- 
que  caeremoniis,  preces  dirigit  ad  ducem  militiae  coelestis,  ut  ille  sibi 
concedat  facultatem  loquendi  cum  spiritu  alicuius  determinatae  personae. 
Aliquantulum  expectat,  dein  manum  compositam  as  scribendum  sentit 
moveri.  quo  certior  fit  de  praesentia  spiritus.  Ipse  exponit  quae  scire 
cupit,  et  manus  scribit  responsa  ad  ea  quae  ipse  proposuerat.  Responsa 
concordant  omnia  cum  fide  et  doctrina  Ecclesiae  circa  vitam  futuram; 
spectant  plerumque  statum  in  quo  reperiatur  anima  alicuius  defuncti, 
necessitatem  quam  habet  recipiendi  iuvaminis  ex  sufFragiis,  quaerimonias 
de  negligentia  cognatorum. — Quibus  expositis,  quaeritur,  num  licitus  sit 
agendi  modus  Titii." 

Resp.    "Uti  exponitur,  non  licere." 

Approved  by  H.  H.  Leo  XIII  April  1,  1898.  See  Analecta  Ecclesiastica, 
VI,  187. 


Moral  Aspects  of  Spiritism  281 

In  1917,  however,  the  Holy  Office  pubhshed  a  decree 
according  to  which  even  such  passive  assistance  is  for- 
bidden/ The  question  proposed  to  the  Holy  Office 
specifically  inquired  whether  it  was  allowable  to  take 
part  in  any  spiritistic  communications  or  manifesta- 
tions, even  of  an  unfraudulent  and  reverential  nature, 
either  by  interrogating  the  "souls"  or  spirits,  or  by 
listening  to  their  answers,  or  as  a  simple  spectator 
tacitly  or  expressly  protesting  that  he  wishes  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  malign  spirits.  The  decree 
clearly  contemplates  active  or  passive  presence  at 
spiritistic  seances,  and  rightly  condemns  it.  Whether 
the  decree  contemplates  laboratory  work  with  entranced 
persons,  which  is  conducted  wholly  without  reference  to 
spirits  of  any  kind,  is  not  stated.  And  until  the  decree 
is  extended  to  cover  even  this  aspect  of  the  case,  we  do 
not  presume  to  enlarge  its  very  definitely  expressed 
scope  by  claiming  that  it  condemns  the  foe  of  Spiritism 
along  with  Spiritism  itself. 


^  ^uprema  Sacra  Congregatio  8.  Officii.  De  Spiritismo.  24  apr.  1917 — 
In  plenario  conventu  habito  ab  Emis  ac  Rmis  Dnis  Cardinalibus  in  rebus 
fidei  et  moruni  Inquisitoribus  Generalibus,  proposito  dubio:  "An  liceat 
per  Medium,  ut  vocant,  vel  sine  Medio,  adhibito  vel  non  liypnotismo, 
locutionibus  aut  manifestationibus  spiritisticis  quibuscumque  adsistere, 
etiam  speciem  honestatis  vel  pietatis  praeseferentibus,  sive  interrogando 
animas  aut  spiritus,  sive  audiendo  responsa,  sive  tantum  aspiciendo,  etiam 
cum  protestatione  tacita  vel  expressa  nullam  cum  malignis  spiritibus 
partem  se  habere  velle." — lidem  Emi  ac  Rmi  Patres  respondendum  de- 
creverunt.     "Negative  in  omnibus." 

Et  Feria  v,  die  26  eiusdem  mensis,  Ssmus  D.  N.  D.  Benedictus  Div. 
Prov.  P.  P.  XV  relatam  sibi  Emorum  Patrum  resolutionem  adprobavit. 

Datum  Romae,  etc.,  die  17  aprilis  1917. — See  The  Ecclesiastical  Review, 
Aug.  1917,  p.  186. 


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INDEX 


"Abercromby,  Blanche,"  100,  101. 
Abnormal   mental   states,   phenomena 

of,  181. 
Absent-mindedness,   185. 
Adare,  Lord,  58,  59,  141,  142. 
Aksakov,  126,  147. 

Alteration  in  weight  of  medium,  MS- 
ISO,   160-161. 
of  physical  objects,  55-57. 
Analgesia  in  somnambulism,   185. 
Anaesthesia  in  somnambulism,   185. 
Andenino,    Dr.,    156. 
Animal  Electricity,  120. 
Animal  Magnetism,  see  Mesmerism. 
Apparitions,  72,  73,  91-93. 
collective,  91-92. 
individual,  92-93. 
of  the  dead,  23. 
Apport,  23,  52-55. 
Astral  substance,  27. 
Auto-suggestion,  186. 
Automatic  painting,  32. 
Automatic  speaking,  23,  32,  93-114. 
compared    with    certain    psycho- 
logical cases,    193-194. 
Automatic  writing,  23,  24,  32,  93-101, 
101-108,   114. 
compared    with    certain    psycho- 
logical cases,   193-194. 
Automatically    registering   apparatus 
for    control    of    mediums, 
55-57,  156-158,  171,  195. 
Automatism,  181,  183,  185. 

motor,  186,  190-193. 
"Ave    Roma    Immortalis,"    cross    cor- 
respondence,  108-109,  239- 
241. 
Baggally,  Mr.,  161,  163,  165. 
Baily,  medium,  128,  131. 
Balfour,  Rt.  Hon.  Gerald,  38,  235. 
Ballet,  Mr.,   159. 


Barrett,  Sir  William  F.,  33,  209^,  216, 
222,  245. 
experiments    in    thought    trans- 
ference by,  202  . 

Bastian,  medium,  31,   131. 

"Beauchamp,   Christine   L.,"   case   of, 
187-189. 

'•Beauchamp,  Sally,"  187,  188,  189. 

Bergson,  Henri,  155. 

Bertrand,  Alexandre,  13. 

Bien    Boa,   "materialized   spirit,"   79, 
176,  177. 

Boirac,  Emile,   198,  206. 

hypnotism  at  a  distance  by,  205, 
209  . 

n 

Botazzi,  Prof.,   155. 

Braid,   13. 

Browning,  Robert,   136. 

Buffern,  Prof.,   147. 

Buguet,   spirit-photographer,    82. 

Cambridge     sittings     with     Eusapia 

Palladino,      152-155,      195, 

221. 
Caraneini,  medium,  42. 
Carquieranne    sittings    with    Eusapia 

Palladino,  151-152. 
Carrara,  Mme.,  40. 
Carrington,   Hereward,   40,    82,    129  , 

134,    154,    156,    157jj,    161, 

163,    164,    165,    166°   169^, 

170,  171. 
Cathodic  rays,   120. 
Census  of  Hallucinations,  200,  201. 
Christianity,  opposition  of  Spiritism 

to,  248-250. 
Clairaudience,   199. 
Clairvoyance,   181,   183,  197,  199. 
Colchester,  medium,  27. 
Conan    Doyle,    Sir    Arthur,    43,    249, 

253,  256. 
Conjurers'  tricks,  164. 


288 


Index 


Conklin,  medium,  27. 

Continental  investigations  of  Eusapia 

Palladino,  155-161. 
Conway,  Moncure,  31. 
Cook,   Florence,   medium,   26,  28,   33, 

76,  77,  78,   127,   131,   134, 

172,  173,  174,  175. 
caught  in  fraud,  26. 

Corner,   Mrs.,  medium,   127. 

Cousden,  Mile.,  secondary  personality 
of,   190. 

Courtier,  Jules,  159,  160. 

Coventry,  Dr.,  19. 

Cox,  Sergeant,  33,  42,  43. 

Craddock,  medium,  131. 

Crawford,  Marion,  "Ave  Roma  Im- 
mortalis,"   241^^. 

Crookes,  Sir  William,  33,  42,  48,  49, 
55,  56,  57,  58,  63,  64,  68, 
70,  73,  76,  77,  78,  86,  120, 
122,  127,  128,  133,  134, 
135,  136,  137,  138,  139, 
140,    143,    151,    171,    172, 

173,  174,   175. 
experiments    with    Home,    48-49, 

55-57,  91-92,  134-143. 
experiments  with  Miss  Cook,  76- 
78,  171-175. 
Crookes,  Lady,  42. 
Cross  correspondence,  108-114,  238. 
notion  of,  238. 
evidential  value  of,  239. 
emerging  with  Mrs.  Verrall,   38. 
"Ave    Roma     Immortalis,"     108- 

109,  239-241. 
"Hope-Star-Browning,"   244. 
Latin  message,  244. 
"Light  in  the  West,"  110. 
"Sesame     and     Lilies,"     110-114, 
241-244. 
Crystal-gazing,   115-118. 
Curie,  Prof,  155,  159. 
Curie,  Mme.,  155,  159. 


d'Alesi,  Mme.  Hugo,  secondary  per- 
sonality of,   189-190. 

d'Arsonval,   159. 

Damiani,  medium,  39. 

Davenport  brothers,  126. 

Davey,  S.  J.,  86,  129. 

Davis,  Andrew  Jackson,  15,  20. 

Dee,  Dr.,  115. 

de  Gasparin,  Count  Ag6nor,  28,  32- 
33,  120. 

de  Guldenstubbe,  Baron,  85. 

Delgais,  Raphael,  39. 

de  Rochas,  Count,  42. 

Dialectical   Society,  London,   140-143. 

Disaggregation,  hyperpolygonal,  184. 
intrapolygonal,  185. 

Dorr,  G.  B.,  36,  38,  166,  234,  235,  236, 
237. 

Draper,  Mrs.,  medium,  23,  88. 

Duguid,  David,  medium,  32. 

du  Prel,  Charles,  147. 

Edmonds,  John  W.,  21. 

Eglinton,  medium,  29,  86,  87,  129, 
131. 

Eldred,  Charles,  medium,    131. 

Elongation  of  human  body,  67-68. 

Ermacora,  Dr.,  147. 

Esperance,  Mme.,  32. 

Fairlamb,  Miss,  medium,  28. 

Fakirs,  Indian,  miracles  of,  11. 

Faraday,  experiments  with  table 
turning,   196^^. 

Fay,   Eva,  medium,   31. 

Feilding,  Hon.  Everard,  42,  161,  163, 
164,   165,   167,  221. 

Finch,  Mrs.,  40. 

Finzi,  Prof.,   147. 

Fire-test,  23. 

Fire-walks,  144-146. 

Fish,  Mrs.,  medium,  18,  19. 

Flammarion,  Camille,  40,  48,  50,  51, 
52,  54,  60,  62,  63,  75,  80, 
190. 

Fletcher,  Mr.,  medium,  32. 


Index 


289 


Fletcher,  Mrs.,  medium,  32. 

Flint,  Dr.,  19. 

Flournoy,  Prof.,   190,   192,   193,  209^. 

Foa,  Dr.,  155,  158. 

Forbes,  Mrs.,  34,  179. 

automatic  script  of,  215. 
Forel,  Dr.,  274. 

case     of     secondary     personality, 
189  . 

n 

Foster,   medium,    27. 

Fowler,  Lottie,  medium,  31,  32. 

Fox,  David,  18. 

Fox,  John  D.,  18. 

Fox,  Margarete,  medium,   18,  24,  31, 

88. 
Fox,  Margaretta,  medium,  18,  19,  20, 

24,  26,  31,  88,   131. 
Fox,  Katie,  medium,   18,   19,   20,  24, 

26,  31,  63-64,  86,  88,   131. 
Fraud   in   mediumistic   practices,   26, 

194. 
Florence  Cook  exposed,  26. 
Fox  sisters  exposed,   19-20. 
Eusapia   Palladino  exposed,    153, 

166,    167,    168,    169,    170, 

171. 
Mediums  exposed,   131. 
Spirit  photographers  exposed,  26- 

27. 
Freeing   of   hand   and   foot,    153, 

154,    156,    166,    167,    168, 

169,   170. 
French   and   Italian    investigators   of 

Eusapia     Palladino,      155- 

161. 
"G.  P."  (George  Pelham),  spirit  con- 
trol,   35,     103,     104,     105, 

106,   107,  213-214,  264. 
psychological       explanation       of, 

213-214. 
Gardner,  Dr.,  26. 
Genicot,  Edw.  S.  J.,  274. 
Genius,  183. 
Gerosa,  Prof.,  147. 


Ghosts,  belief  in,  11. 

Gilbert,  Dr.,  hypnotism  at  a  distance, 

205. 
Grasset,  Dr.,  182,  189. 

system  of  polygonal   psychology, 

182,   184-185. 
Grocyn,  "spirit,"  65,  92,  128,  195. 
Guppy,  Mrs.,  medium,  31. 
Gurney,  Edmund,  36,  98,  199,  214. 

spirit  control  of,  107. 
Guzik,  Jan,  127. 
Hall,  Stanley,  Dr.,  36. 
Hallucinations,  census  of,  200-201. 
veridical,   200,   201. 
individual,  200,  201. 
collective,  201. 
Harding,  Mrs.   Emma,  32. 
Hare,    Robert,    Dr.,    21,    33,    34,    133, 

134. 
Harris,  T.  L.,  Rev.,  medium,  25. 
Hart,  John,  103,  104. 
Hauffe,  Frederica,  14. 
Hayden,  Mrs.,  medium,  21,  25. 
Henderson,  Mr.,  medium,  31. 
Herlitzka,   Dr.,   155. 
Heme,  F.,  medium,  28,  31,  67,  131. 
Hodgson,   Richard,   Dr.,   35,   36,    103, 

107,    152,    153,    179^,    237. 
spirit   control   of,   107,   235,   237, 

238. 
"Holland,"  Mrs.,  34,  38,  108,  109,  110, 

179,   241. 
script    of,    215,    216,    218,    218- 

222,     237-238,     239,     240, 

241,  243. 
Holmes,  Mrs.,  medium,  31. 
Home,   Daniel   Dunglas,  medium,   24- 

25,  33,  48,  49,  51,  55,   56, 

57,  58,  59,  67,  68,  91,  126, 

128,    129,    131j^,    1.34,    135, 

136,    137,    138",    139,    140, 

141,  142,  143,   146. 
"Hope-Star-Browning"    incident,    244. 


290 


Index 


Howard,  James  and  Mary,  104,  106, 
213. 

Hudson,  Miss,  medium,  32. 

Hyperaesthesia  in  automatism,   185. 

Hypnotism,  181,  183,  185,  186. 

induction  of,  at  a  distance,  205. 
lawfulness  of,  274,  275. 

Hyslop,  James  H.,  Prof.,  208. 

lie  de  Roubaud  sittings,  150. 

Imoda,  Dr.,    156. 

Immortality,  not  proven  by  Spiritism, 
257-258,  264-265. 

Imperator-band,   29,  35,  36,  264. 

Impressions  of  human  forms, 
in  plastic  substance,  79-82. 
on  blackened  paper,  81-82. 

Institute  Generale  Psychologique, 
investigation    of    Eusapia    Palla- 
dino  by,  155,  159-161,  168. 

James,  William,  Prof.,  35,  214,  238. 

Janet,  Pierre,  Dr.,  205. 

Jencken,  Mrs.,  medium,  20. 

Johnson,  Alice,  38,  110,  153,  168,  203, 
204,   220,    221,    222^^,    238, 
239,  240,  243. 
experiments    in    thought    trans- 
ference by,  203,  204. 

Jung-Stilling,  J.  H.,  14. 

Kane,  Mrs.,  medium,  20. 

Kardec,  Allan,  28,  251. 

Kerner,  Julius,  Dr.,  14. 

King,  John  (spirit),  23,  26,  39,  40, 
41,  58,  76,  170,  196. 

King,  Katie  (spirit),  23,  26,  76,  77, 
78,  79,  127,  128,  171,  172, 
173,   174,  175. 

Kirkham,  Elizabeth,  98. 
Fanny,  98. 

Koons,  spiritistic  seances  of,   22,   89. 

Lang,  Andrew,  144,  146. 

Lankester,  Ray,  31. 

Lapponi,  G.,  Dr.,  233^^,  274^. 

Latin  message  (cross  correspond- 
ence), 244. 


Lee,  Dr.,  19. 

Lehmann    and    Hansen,    criticism    of 
experiments      in     thought 
transference,  204^. 
Lelimkuhl,  Aug.,  S.  J.,  274^^. 
Lethe  incident,  234-237. 
Levitation,  23. 

of  human  body,  58-59. 
of  seance  table,  150. 
"Light    in    the    West"     (cross    corre- 
spondence), 110. 
Lindsay,  Master  of,   58,   67,   68,    140, 

141,  142,  143. 
Lodge,  Sir  Oliver,  36,  43,  60,  151,  152, 
155,    209^,    214,    215,    222, 
223,  238,  249,  253. 
Lombroso,  Prof.,  41,  48,  50,  147,  155, 
156. 
experiments  with  Eusapia  Palla- 
dino,   147. 
Lord,  Prof.,  167. 
Love  scenes  at  seances,  61. 
Lyon,  Dr.,  15. 
Mac,  Miss,  110,  111,  112,  113,  244. 

script  of,  241,  242,  243. 
Maeterlinck,  Maurice,  201,  211. 
Marshall,  Mrs.,  medium,   25. 
Marriott,  Mr.,  167. 
Martian    romance    of    Helene    Smith, 

191-192. 
Maskelyne,  J.  W.,  131^^,  153. 
Materialization,    23,    26,    72-79,    122, 
123,     124,     126-127,      130, 
171-177. 
of  Katie  King,  76-79,  171-175. 
of  Villa  Carmen,  79,  176-177. 
photographs  of,  77-78. 
scientific    investigation    of,    171- 
175,  175-177. 
Maxwell,  Joseph,  Dr.,  64,  154,  221. 
Mediums,  early,  in  England,  28-29. 
later,  34. 
photographic  control  of,   169. 


Index 


291 


physical  examination  of,  159. 
psychical,  32,  179. 
Mediumship,  27. 

analysis  of,  185-193. 
Mellon,  Mrs.,  medium,  28-29,  131. 
Merrifield,  Mr.,  135. 
Mesmer   Anthon,  12,  120. 
Mesmerism,  12-13,  20,  27,  28,  90,  120. 

in  North  America,  14-15. 
Metamorphoses,    Ovidii,    reference    to 
in    Piper   communications, 
235-236. 
Milan   commission   investigating 
Eusapia     Palladino,     147- 
150. 
Miles,  Clarissa,  34. 

experiments     in    thought    trans- 
ference by,  203-204,  207. 
Monck,  medium,  28. 
Morse,  J.  J.,  medium,  32,  67. 
Morselli,  Enrico,  Dr.,  155. 
Moses,  William  Stainton,  Rev.,  29-31, 
38,  43,  52,  54,  58,  59,  63, 
65,  66,  69,  70,  82,  83,  84, 
92,  93,  95,  96,  97,  98,  99, 
100,    101,    128,    133,    177, 
178,     179,     194-195,     250- 
251,  262,  264. 
career  of,  29-31. 
discussion    of    case    of,    177-178, 

179. 
phenomena    of,    in    the    light    of 

psychology,  194-195. 
religious  doctrines  of,  250-251. 
Moses,  Mrs.,  99. 

Movement  of   inanimate   objects,   46- 
52. 
without  contact,  48-52. 
Mumler,  spirit-photographer,  26-27. 
Munsterberg,  Hugo,  Prof.,  166,  170. 
Myers,   Frederic,   W.   H.,   30,   36,   37, 
38,  89,  93,  98,  99,  101,  110, 
132,    151,    152,    153,    154, 
155,    177,    199,    207,    209^, 


221,    222,    223,    224,    225, 
226,    227,    229,    230,    233, 
236,  252-253. 
spirit  control,  37,  107,  185^,  217, 
238,  245. 
in  Mrs.   Holland's  script,   218- 

222. 
in   Mrs.   Verrall's   script,   222- 

223. 
in     Mrs.     Piper's     communica- 
tions, 223-237. 
not  identical  with  Myers,  185^^. 
Latin  message,  244. 
Lethe  incident,  234-237. 
Terling  incident,  224-233. 
reference  to  sealed  envelope,  222- 

223. 
religious  doctrine  of,  252-253. 
Myers,  Frederic  W.  H.,  Mrs.,  153. 
Naples  sittings  with  Eusapia  Palla- 
dino in  1908,  161-165,  169, 
170,  195. 
in  1910,  167-168,  171. 
Necromancy,  9-10,  271,  272,  276. 
ancient  practices  of,  11. 
unlawfulness  of,  272. 
nature  of,  271-272. 
Nelly   (spirit  control),  37. 
New     York     sittings     with     Eusapia 
Palladino,      147,      165-167, 
170. 
Ochorowicz,  Dr.,  42,  80,  81,  128,  151, 

152jj,   155. 
Od,  120-121. 

Olive,  Mrs.,  medium,  32. 
Ouija  board,  186  . 
Owen,  Robert  D.,  25,  26,  250,  251. 

religious  doctrines  of,  250,  251. 
Parks,    Mr.,    spirit-photographer,    27, 

82. 
Palladino,  Eusapia,  34,  38-40,  41,  46, 
47,  49,  50,  51,  52,  54,  57, 
58,  61,  63,  64,  65,  74,  75, 
79,    80,    81,    82,    127,    128, 


292 


Index 


131,     139,     147-150,     152, 
153,    154,    155,    158,    159, 
160,    161,    163^,    164,    165, 
166,    167,    168,    169,    170, 
185,  194,  219,  220. 
career  of,  38-41. 
fraud  of,  41,  194. 
investigation  of,  41,  146-171. 
Cambridge     sittings,    41,     147, 

152-155,  195. 
Committee  of  S.  P.  R.,  161-165. 
French     and     Italian     investi- 
gations,  147,  155-161. 
lie   de   Roubaud   sittings,    150- 

152. 
Institute     Gen&rale     Psycholo- 

gique,  155,  159-161. 
Lombroso's  experiments,  147. 
Milan   sittings,  57,  75,  79,  80, 
81,  82,  127,  128,  131,  139, 
147-150. 
Naples    sittings   in    1908,    161- 
165,  169,  170,  195. 
in  1910,  167-168,  171. 
New^    York    sittings,    41,    147, 

165-167,   170. 
Turin  sittings,  156-158. 
phenomena   of,    in    light   of   psy- 
chology, 195-197. 
reference     to     by     the     "Myers" 
control,  219-220. 
Pelham,   George,   see   George   Pelham 

(G.  P.). 
Perrin,   159. 

Perrone,  Jo.,  S.  J.,  268. 
Personality,  human,  182. 
disintegration  of,    183. 
dissociation  of,  181. 
theories   regarding,   181-185. 
Grasset's  theory,   182,   184-185. 
Myers'     theory     of     the     sub- 
liminal self,  182-184. 
Perty,  Maximilian,   28. 


Peters,  Mr.,  medium,  67,  68. 
Petetin,  120. 
Phelps,  Rev.,  20. 

Phenomena  of   Spiritism,    18,   19,  22- 
24,  45-118. 
claim  to  preternatural  causation, 

119. 
classification  of,  45. 
morality  of,  273-281. 
physical,  45-66,  67-89. 

explanatory  hj'potheses,   120. 
fraud  in,  123-136. 
a  priori  argument  for,   124- 

133. 
in    Home's   phenomena,    135- 

136. 
in     Palladino's     phenomena, 
41,  194. 
investigation   of,   133-144,   146- 

171,  171-177. 
natural   force   theory,    120-122. 
notion    and    definition    of,    45- 

46. 
production  by  mechanical 
means,   129. 
psychical,  90-118. 

investigation  of,  178. 
notion  and  definition  of,  90. 
Phinuit     (spirit    control),     35,     101, 
102,   103,  105,  107. 
as  a  secondary  personality,  213. 
Photographic     control     of     mediums, 

169. 
Physical  examination  of  medium  and 
surroundings  before 

seances,   159. 
Physical  mediums,  genuine,  179. 
Piddington,    Mr.,    36,    38,    216,    224, 

227,  231,  235.       . 
Pigou,  Prof.,  38. 

Piper,  Mrs.,  34,  38,  101,  102,  103, 
106,  110,  179,  213,  214, 
215,    218,    223,    231,    232, 


Index 


293 


236,  264,  275. 
career  of,  35-37. 

communications  of,  213-214,  223- 
227,  228,  244. 
Planchette  writing,  87,  130. 
Podmore,  Frank,  34,  37,  38,  129,  138, 
139,  141,  142,  143,  161, 
162,  165,  177,  179^^,  199, 
201,    213,    216,    217,    222^, 

234  ,  238  ,  244. 

n'  n' 

Poltergeist-phenomena,  46. 

historical  cases  of,  11-12,  20. 
Politi,    Auguste,    medium,    41-42,   47, 

72. 
Prince,  Morton,  Dr.,  187,  188,  189. 
Production  of  objects  and  substances, 

69-72. 
Psychical  Research,   15,  16,   119,   133. 
Psychological  Society,  33. 
Quintard,  Dr.,  experiments  in  thought 

transference  by,  203. 
Eamsden,   Hermione,   34. 

experiments     in    thought    trans- 
ference   by,    203-204,    207. 
Randolph,  P.   B.,  medium,   25. 
Rap-messages,  83. 
Raupert,  Godfrey,  82,  268. 
"Raymond,"  249,  253. 
Redman,  medium,  27. 
Reincarnation,    Kardec's   doctrine   of, 

28,   251. 
Religion   of   Spiritism,   248-267. 
basis  of,  257,  261,  262. 
claims  of,  248-250. 
departure   from    Christianity   of, 

256-257. 
doctrines  of,  250-256. 
failure  of,  262-267. 
Richet,    Charles,    79,    147,    148,    149, 
150,    151,    155,    159,    175, 
176. 
Rita,  medium,  28,  131. 
Rivail,  Mr.    (see  Kardec),  28. 


Roman   Congregations  on  hypnotism, 
275. 
on  spiritism,  280,  281. 
Roberts,  Mrs.,  medium,  21,  25. 
Rothe,  Anna,  medium,  128,  131. 
Ruskin,  John,  114,  241,  242,  243. 
Sabetti-Barrett,  274  . 

'  n 

Saint   Alphonsus   Ligouri,   272,   274  . 
Saint  Thomas  Aquinas,  271,  274  . 
Sambor,  medium,  42,  55. 
Sardou,    Victorien,    automatic    draw- 
ing by,  190. 
Schiaparelli,  Prof.,  62,   147,   149. 
Secondary  personalities,  185,  186-193. 
■  cases     of     "Christine     L.     Beau- 
champ,"   187-189. 
"Helene  Smith,"   190-193. 
Lurancy    Vennum,    the    "Wat- 

seka  Wonder,"  189  . 
Mile.  Couesdon,  190. 
Mme.  Hugo  d'Alesi,  189-190. 
Dr.  Forel's  case,  189^^. 
Dr.  Tuckey's  case,  189^^. 
"Sesame    and    Lilies,"     (cross    corre- 
spondence),   110-114,    241- 
244. 
Showers,  Miss,  medium,   131. 
Sidgwick,  Arthur,  225,  229,  230,  231, 

233. 
Sidgwick,   Henry,   34,    151,    153,    154, 
155,    216,    223,    224,    229, 
231,  232. 
experiments     in    thought    trans- 
ference, 204. 
spirit   control    of,    107,    110,    112, 
216-217,  244. 
psychologically  explained,  216- 
217,  244. 
Sidgwick,    Mrs.,    83,    125,    217,    223, 
224,    225,    226,    227,    228, 
229,    230,    231,    232,    233. 
experiments    in    thought    trans- 
ference, 203,  204. 
on  spurious  phenomena,  125. 


294 


Index 


Slade,    Henry,    medium,    31,    34,    129, 
131,  133. 
exposed  in  fraud,  31. 
Slate  writing,  86,  87. 

exposed  by   Davey,  86. 
Sleep,  183,  184. 
"Smith,    Helene,"    case    of,    190-193, 

194. 
Smith,  Langdon,  on  Evolution,  265. 
Society    for    Psychical    Research,    30, 
34,  153,  161. 
investigation    of    Eusapia    Palla- 
dino,     by     Committee     of, 
161-165. 
American,   152. 
Society  of  Harmony,  13,  14. 
Solovovo,    Count    Perovsky    Petrovo, 

124,   167,   168. 
Solovovo,  Countess,  167,  171. 
Somnambulism,  185. 
Soul,  human,  powers  of  after  death, 

276-278. 
Sounds,  62-66. 

raps,  62-63,  64,  65. 
thuds,  63,  64. 
musical,  65-66. 
Spear,  Charlton,  70,  84. 
Spear,  John  Murray,  21,  24. 
Spear,  Stanthorpe,  Dr.,  29,  52,  70,  84, 

85,  93,  178. 
Spear,  Stanthorpe,  Mrs.  29,  70,  84. 
Spirit  faces,  see  Impressions. 
Spirit  identity,  212-247. 
evidential  matter,  212. 
the  G.  P.  control,  213-214. 
Phinuit  control,  213. 
Gumey  control,  215-216. 
Sidgwick  control,  216-217. 
Myers  control,  217-237. 
Hodgson  control,  235,  237-238. 
cross  correspondence,  238-245. 
conclusion,  245-247. 
Spirit  lights,  69,  70,  71,  72. 
Spirit  messages,  direct,  83-89. 


Spirit-photographers,       exposed       in 

fraud,  131. 
Spirit-photography,  26,  27,  82-83. 

fraud   in,  26-27. 
Spirit  scent,  69. 
Spirit  telegraphy,  23,  87-88. 
Spirit  voices,  89. 
Spirit  writing,  direct,  83-86. 
Spiritism,     appearance     of     in     the 
United  States,  9. 
appearance  of  in  Europe,  21,  22, 

25. 
definition  of  term,  9. 
early  converts  to,  21. 
early  mediums,  24-25. 
early  seances,  22-24. 
early  theories,  27-28. 
English  mediums,  28-31. 
history  of,   18-44. 
later  American  mediums,   31. 
later  metaphysics  of,  42-43. 
later  mediums,  34-42. 
moral  aspects  of,  268-281. 
religious   aspects   of,   16,    17,   43- 

44,  248-267. 
scientific  investigation  of,   32-34, 
see     also     under     proper 
headings, 
statistics  on,  44. 
Spiritualism,  meaning  of  term,  9  . 
Squire,  medium,  27. 
Stokes,  Miss,  medium,  29. 
Subliminal    self,    theory    of,    182-184. 
Suggestion,  181,  183. 
Swedenborg,  Emanuel,   13,  90,  210. 
Swedenborgianism,    13-14,  27. 
Symposium    (Plato's)    referred  to  by 
the   "Myers"   control,   222, 
223. 
Table  levitation,  47-48. 
Table  turning,  22,  46-47. 

Faraday's      experiment      with, 
196„. 
Tallmadge,  24. 


Index 


295 


Tambourine     M  a  r  e  y  ,     experiments 

with,   156-158. 
Tanner,  Amy,  36. 
Tappan,    Cora,    L.    V.     (Richmond), 

32. 
Taylor,  medium,  31,  131. 
Tela;sthesia,   197,   198. 

case  of  Mme.  Hortense,  211. 
Swedenborg,    210. 
Maeterlinck's   case,   210-211. 
definition  of,  199. 
evidence      for      telaesthetic      phe- 
nomena,  209-211. 
Telekinesis,    see   movement   of   inani- 
mate objects. 
Telepathy,  183,  197. 
definition  of,  198. 
evidence  for  phenomena  of,   199- 

209. 
experimental     cases     of,     see 

thought  transference, 
spontaneous  cases  of,  199-201. 
Telepsychism,  197,  198. 
Terling   incident,   test   case,    224-233. 
Thompson,    Mrs.,    34,    37-38,    89,    93, 
179,   217. 
career  of,  37-38. 
Thought  transference,    181,   197,   198. 
definition  of,  198. 
experiments  in,  201-205. 
Prof.     Barrett's     experiments, 
202  . 

n 

Mr.    Guthrie's   experiments,   202. 
Misses  Miles'  and  Ramsden's  ex- 
periments, 203-204,  207. 
Mrs.   Sidgwick's  and  Alice  John- 
son's     experiments,      203, 
204. 
Prof,    and    Mrs.    Sidg^vick's    ex- 
periments, 204. 
Thurstan,  F.  W.,  37. 
Thury,  Prof.,  28,  33. 
Tomczvk,  Mile.,  medium,  42. 


Touches,  60-62. 

Touching  of  burning  substances,  see 
fire-test. 

Towns,  Mr.,  medium,  32. 

Trance  state,  185. 

Transportatioii,  31. 

Trowbridge,   Prof.,   166. 

Tuckey,   C.   Lloyd,   Dr. 

case    of     secondary    personality, 
189^. 

Turin    sittings    with    Eusapia    Palla- 
dino,   156-158. 

Tyson  incident,  107,  213. 

psychological       explanation       of, 
213. 

Varley,  Cromwell,  43. 

Vennum,  Lurancy,  case  of,  189^. 

Verrall,  Dr.,  109,  222,  240. 

Verrall,  Miss.,  34,  111,  112,  113,  179. 
script  of,  242,  244. 

Verrall,  Mrs.,  38,  108,  109,  110,  111, 
112,  113,  114,  116,  179, 
222,  223,  225,  226,  227, 
230,  231,  233,  235,  236, 
239,  240,  241,  243,  245. 
experiments  in  thought  trans- 
ference, 202. 
script  of,  215,  216,  217,  218, 
239,  240,  241,  242,  243, 
244. 

Villa     Carmen,     materializations     of, 
79,  127,  175-177. 

von  Erhardt,  Baron,  42. 

von  Reiclienbach,   120. 

"Watseka  Wonder,"  the,  189  and  ^. 

Westoby,  Fanny,  98,  99. 

Wharton,  Peter    (spirit  control),  37. 

Williams,  Charles,   medium,   28,   131. 

Wood,  Miss,  medium,  28,  131. 

Wynne,  Capt.,   141. 

Ztillner,  Johann,  Prof.,  33-34,  54,  133, 
134. 


DEUS  LUX  MEA 


THESES 

QUAS 
AD  DOCTORATUM 

IN 

SACRA  THEOLOGIA 

Apud  Universitatem   Catholicam  Americae 

CONSEQUENDUM 
PUBLICE  PROPUGNABIT 

lOANNES  LILJENCRANTS 

SACERDOS  ARCHIDIOECESIS  BALTIMORENSIS 
SACRAE  THEOLOGIAE  LICENTIATUS 

DIE  VI  JUNII  A.  D.  MCMXVIII 


Universitas     Catholica     Americje 
Washingtonii,  D.  C. 


S.  Facultas  Theologica 

1917-1918 

No.   11 


THESES 


I. 

Usiis  spiritismi,  sive  in  experimentis  instituendis,  sive 
participando  in  circulis  spiritisticis,  semper  illicitus  est 
(S.  Off.  30.  mart.  1898;  24  apr.  1917). 

II. 

Numquam  licet  in  experimentis  spiritistics  inservire, 
etiamsi  excludatur  omnis  conventio  cum  daemone. 

III. 

Malitia  usus  spiritismi  non  necessario  oritur  ex  con- 
ventione  cum  daemone,  sed  invenitur  etiam  in  super- 
stitione  implicata,  nempa  quod  defmictorum  animarum 
ope  Veritas  praebetur. 

IV. 

Eo  quod  scrutatio  scrupulosa  phenomena  spiritistica 
tamquam  naturaliter  causata  ostendit,  periculum  inter- 
ventus  diabolici  in  particularibus  casibus  non  est  ex- 
cludendum. 

V. 

Usus  spiritismi  moralitatis  publicae  necnon  indi- 
vidualis  subversivus  est,  eiusque  doctrina  Religioni  et 
humanae  societati  summopere  nociva. 

VI. 

Oratio  petitionis  non  est  perfectionis  impeditiva. 

VII. 

Merito  damnata  est  propositio:  "Qui  in  oratione 
utitur  imaginibus,  figuris,  speciebus  et  propriis  con- 
ceptibus,  non  adorat  Deum  in  spiritu  et  veritate." 
(Prop.  Michaelis  de  Molinos  damn,  in  Decret.  28.  aug., 
et  in  Const.  "Coelestis  Pastor.,"  19.  nov.,  1687.  Apud 
Denz.  No.  1238.) 


VIII. 

Idem  dicimus  de  propositione :  "Etiamsi  superveniat 
somniis  et  dormiatur,  nihilominus  fit  oratio  et  contem- 
platio  actualis:  quia  oratio  est  resignatio,  resignatio  et 
oratio  idem  sunt,  et  dum  resignatio  perdurat,  perdurat 
et  oratio."     (Ut  supra,  apud  Denz.  No.  1245.) 

IX. 

Non  est  damnandum  tamquam  spurcum  et  im- 
mundum  totum  sensibile,  quod  experimur  in  vita 
spirituali. 

X. 

Salubris  et  necessaria  est  cogitatio  de  praemio,  de 
punitione,  de  paradiso,  de  inferno,  de  morte  et  de 
aeternitate,  qua  spe  nostra  de  beatitudine  aeterna 
sustinetur  et  roboratur. 

XI. 

Intentio,  qua  quis  detestatur  malum  et  prosequitur 
bonum,  mere  ut  coelestem  obtineat  gloriam,  etsi  non 
altissima,  tamen  recta  et  Deo  placens  est  (vide  Denz. 
No.  1300). 

XII. 

Humanitas  Christi,  utpote  res  honorata,  adoratione 
latriae  perfectae  semper  colenda  est. 

XIII. 

Quum  theologiae  seientiae  principia  tum  speculativa, 
tum  practica  ita  inter  se  connectantur  ut  scientiam  unam 
constituant,  theologiae  moralis  tractatio  a  theologia 
dogmatica  non  est  separanda,  sed  praestat  iuxta  Magis- 
trorum  antiquorum  morem  utramque  in  unum  doctrinae 
corpus  restituere. 

XIV. 

Norma  moralitatis  proxima  discriminans  actiones  hu- 
manas  rectas  a  pravis  est  humana  natura  adaequate 


spectata,    norma    ultima    divina    essentia;    moralitas 
proinde  a  Deo  independens  admitti  nequit. 

XV. 

Effectus  mains,  quem  praeter  intentionem  ex  actione 
sua  agens  praevidit,  huic  imputari  nequit,  quoties  illud 
impedire  non  teneatur. 

XVI. 

Inter  actus  humanos  tres  in  Novo  Testamenta  et 
maxime  in  scriptis  apostolicis  recensentur  quasi  ex- 
cellentiorem  ordinem  constituentes,  fides,  spes  et 
earitas;  horum  excellentia  in  eo  sita  est  quod  hominem 
ordinant  turn  ad  Deum  finem  supernaturalem  ultimum, 
turn  ad  Christum  mediatorem ;  merito  illi  actus  vocantur 
theologici. 

XVII. 

Finis  completus  societatis  civilis  non  in  Statu  pro- 
gressu  indefinite  promovendo,  nee  in  mera  personarum 
atque  iurium  securitate  procurando,  sed  in  bono  externo 
complete  in  quantum  potest  omnium  eius  membrorum 
obtinendo,  consistit. 

XVIII. 

Postulat  optima  civilis  societatis  ratio,  ut  populares 
scholae,  quae  patent  omnibus  cuiusque  e  populo  classis 
pueris,  ac  publica  universim  instituta,  quae  literis  sever- 
ioribusque  disciplinis  tradendis  et  educatione  iuventutis 
curandae  sunt  destinata,  Ecclesiae  auctoritatis  arbitrio 
subiciantur. 

XIX. 

Civili  potestati  circa  scholarem  institutionem  ^^uer- 
orum  duplex  cooperatio  ex  officio  competit,  altera  nega- 
tiva,  quae  in  publica  iurium,  etiam  personalium,  tutela 
consistit,  altera  positiva,  sed  externa  et  subsidiaria, 
quatenus  ad  fundandas  et  sustentandas  scholas  neces- 
sarias  socials  spontaneitas  oneri  publico  impar  succursu 
indigeat. 


XX. 

Catholicis  viris  probari  non  potest  ea  iuventutis  in- 
stituendae  ratio,  quae  sit  a  catholica  fide  et  ab  Ecclesiae 
potestate  seiuncta. 

XXI. 

Parentes  ad  suorum  liberorum  educationem  stricto 
naturali  officio  tenentur,  et  munus  illos  educandi,  qua 
naturale  est,  exclusivo  iure  sibi  vindicare  possunt. 

XXII. 

Responsio  S.  Officii  25  iulii  1895  data,  circa  illi- 
ceitatem  foetus  immaturi  in  lucem  edendi  ut  mater  sal- 
varetur,  principiis  iustitiae  sanis  omnino  est  conformis. 

XXIII. 

Quum  hodie  oeconomicae  societatis  conditiones  ita  se 
habent  ut  pecunia  ad  productionem  alteri  tradita,  sint 
virtualiter  frugifera,  fenus  moderatum  percipere  licitum 
est. 

XXIV. 

Duellum  sub  titulo  satisfactionis  pro  laeso  honore  sus- 
ceptum  legi  naturali  repugnat,  ideoque  semper  illicitum 
est. 

XXV. 

Lex  naturalis  ita  est  promulgata  ut  eius  principia 
ignorari  non  possint;  de  praeceptis  autem  mediatis 
potest  esse  aliqua  ignorantia. 

XXVI. 

Potestas  Ecclesiae  circa  matrimonium  leges  ferendi 
canone  1016  novi  codicis  affirmatur. 

XXVII. 

Vi  canonis  1070  novi  codicis  nullum  est  matrimonium 
contractum  a  persona  baptizata  in  Ecclesia  catholica 


vel  ad  eandem  ex  haeresi  aut  schismate  conversa  cum 
persona  non  baptizata. 

XXVIII. 

Si  pars  tempore  contracti  matrimonii  tamquam 
baptizata  commmiiter  habeatur  aut  eius  baptismus 
erat  dubius,  standum  est,  ad  norman  can.  1014,  pro 
valore  matrimonii,  donee  certo  probetur  alteram 
partem  baptizatam  esse,  alteram  vero  non  baptizatam. 
(Can.  1070  §  2.) 

XXIX. 

Dispensatio  super  impedimentum  disparitatis  cultus 
removet  tantum  dirimens  imperimentum  iuris  canonici, 
qua  de  causa  ad  validitatem  dispensationis  requiritur  ut 
prohibitio  iure  divino  naturali  orta  iam  remota  sit  (can. 
1071). 

XXX. 

Matrimonium  contractum  cum  impedimento  iuris 
naturalis  vel  divini,  etiamsi  postea  impedimentum  ces- 
saverit  Ecclesia  non  sanat  in  radice,  ne  a  momento 
quidem  cessationis  impedimenti  (can.  1139  §  2). 

XXXI. 

Consuetudo  novum  impedimentum  inducens  aut 
impedimentis  existentibus  contraria  reprobatur  (can. 
1041). 

XXXII. 

Impotentia  antecedens  et  perpetua,  sive  ex  parte  viri 
sive  ex  parte  mulieris,  sive  alteri  cognita  sive  non,  sive 
absoluta  sive  relativa,  matrimonium  ipso  naturae  iure 
dirimit.     (can.  1068  §  1.) 

XXXIII. 

Si  impedimentum  impotentiae  dubium  sit,  sive  dubio 
iuris  sive  dubio  facti,  matrimonium  non  est  impedien- 
dum.     (can.  1068,  §  2.) 


XXXIV. 

Sterilitas  matrimonium  nee  dirimit  nee  impedit  (ean. 
1086,  §  3.) 

XXXV. 

Ea  tantum  spiritualis  eognatio,  eontracta  eum  bap- 
tizato  a  baptizante  ut  patrino,  matrimonium  irritat 
(can.  1097). 

XXXVI. 

Pueri  qui  ad  annos  discretionis,  idest  ad  rationis 
usum,  pervenerint  debent  semel  in  anno,  saltem  in 
Pasehate,  Eueharistiae  saeramentum  recipere.  De 
suffieienti  eorum  dispositione  ad  priman  eommunionem 
iudieium  esto  saeerdoti  a  eonfessionibus  eorumque  par- 
entibus  aut  iis  qui  loco  parentum  sunt  (ean.  859,  §  1  et 
854  §  1).^ 

XXXVII. 

Parocho  est  offieium  advigilandi,  etiam  per  examen, 
si  opportunum  prudenter  iudicaverit,  ne  pueri  ad 
sacram  Synaxim  aceedant  ante  adeptum  usum  rationis 
vel  sine  suffieienti  dispositione ;  itemque  curandi  ut  usum 
rationis  assecuti  et  suffieienter  dispositi  quamprimum 
hoc  divino  cibo  reficiantur  (can.  854.  §  5). 

XXXVIII. 

Unctiones  verbis,  ordine  et  modo  in  libris  ritualibus 
praescripto,  accurate  peragantur;  in  casu  autem  neces- 
sitatis sufficit  unica  unctio  in  uno  sensu  seu  rectius  in 
fronte  cum  praescripto  forma  breviori,  salva  obligatione 
singulas  unctiones  supplendi,  cessante  periculo  (can. 
947,  §  1).' 

XXXIX. 

Contra  eos  qui  dicunt  matrimonii  saeramentum  non 
esse  nisi  quid  contractui  accessorium,  ab  eoque  separabile 

^  Vide  decret.  "Quam  singulari,"  Congr.  de  Sacram.,  8.  aug.   1910. 
=  Vide  decret.  S.  OflF.  25.  apr.  1906. 


canonem  1012  novi  codicis  addiicimus,  quo  ostenditur 
vera  doctrina,  nempe  quod  "Christus  Dominus  ad  sacra- 
menti  dignitatem  evexit  ipsum  contractum  matri- 
monialem  inter  baptizatos." 

XL. 

Eodem  canone  reiieitur  opinio  eorum  qui  docuerunt 
niatrinionium  inter  baptizatos  absque  Sacramento  valide 
contrahi  posse. 

XLI. 

Doctrina  spiritistarum  de  vita  futura,  utpote  con- 
tinua  cum  hac  vita  praesenti  ac  simul  prorsus  avulsa  ab 
omni  relatione  cognitionis  intimae  ad  Deum,  non  solum 
Christianae  religionis  dogmatibus  infensissime  adver- 
satur,  sed  etiam  philosophice  se  probat  minime  admissu 
dignam. 

XLII. 

Conceptus  Redemptionis,  quem  e  medio  tollere 
conantur  spiritistae,  non  est  doctrina  Christiana,  sed  fal- 
sissima  notio  eius  loco  suffecta. 

XLIII. 

Idem  dicimus  de  statu  purgativo  a  spiritistis  con- 
cepto. 

XLIV. 

Notio  peccati  a  spiritistis  habita  repugnat  con- 
scientiae,  historiae,  atque  morali  hominum  profectui 
promovendo. 

XLV. 

Animam  humanam  neque  a  substantia  divina  eman- 
are,  neque  e  materiae  potentiis  longa  evolutione  educi, 
neque  vi  creatrice  parentibus  generantibus  communi- 
cata  oriri,  sed  ex  Deo  immediate  produci,  prout  actio 
causarum  secundarium  id  postulat,  dicimus. 


XL  VI. 

The  alleged  scientific  evidence  of  spiritistic  phe- 
nomena cannot  rightly  be  substituted  for  the  criteria  of 
divine  revelation. 

XL  VII. 

Spiritism,  far  from  being  an  improvement  on  Chris- 
tianity, is  burdened  with  several  defects  fundamentally 
subversive  of  true  religion. 

XL  VIII. 

The  attempt  to  explain  the  wonderful  works  of  Christ 
as  due  to  the  exercise  of  spiritistic  mediumship,  must 
be  set  down  as  a  failure. 

XLIX. 

It  is  likewise  an  error  to  ascribe  Christ's  marvellous 
cures  to  hypnotic  influence  or  to  identify  them  with 
any  other  form  of  modern  mind  cures. 

L. 

The  belief  of  the  primitive  Church  in  the  bodily  resur- 
rection of  Jesus  cannot  adequately  be  explained  on  the 
basis  of  merely  subjective  impressions. 

LI. 

The  depleted  conditions  of  the  treasury  in  Sweden 
after  the  war  of  liberation  under  Gustaf  Vasa  and  the 
heavy  debt  to  Liibeck  strongly  influenced  the  King  to 
break  with  the  Church  and  to  introduce  Protestantism 
as  a  means  of  obtaining  ecclesiastical  property. 

LII. 

The  early  activities  of  the  protestant  reformers  in 
Sweden  was  so  strongly  resented  by  the  people  that 
their  propaganda  was  made  possible  only  under  the  pro- 
tection of  the  king. 


LIII. 

The  spread  of  the  protestant  reformation  in  Sweden 
was  in  large  measure  due  to  the  weakness  of  the  bishops 
who  with  one  exception  failed  to  offer  any  decided  op- 
position to  the  violence  of  the  king. 

LIV. 

The  strong  opposition  to  the  Catholic  Church  and  the 
peculiar  religious  intolerance  which  is  still  to  be  found 
in  Sweden  has  its  roots  in  the  political  conditions  aris- 
ing out  of  the  Wars  of  Religion. 

LV. 

The  spread  of  unbelief  and  materialism  in  Sweden 
is  due  in  large  measure  to  the  fact  that  Lutheranism 
fails  to  satisfy  the  religious  needs  of  the  Swedish  people. 

LVI. 

The  story  of  the  deluge  in  Genesis  VI-VIII  may  be 
interpreted  in  the  sense  that  the  deluge,  though  real,  did 
not  extend  to  all  parts  of  the  earth. 

LVII. 

The  transcendent  superiority  of  the  religion  of  Israel 
over  those  of  Babylonia,  Egypt,  and  other  contem- 
porary nations  goes  far  to  vindicate  its  claim  to  be  of 
divine  origin. 

LVIII. 

The  divine  character  of  the  Messiah,  while  generally 
overlooked  by  the  Jews,  finds  expression  in  several  of 
the  Old  Testament  prophecies. 

LIX. 

The  Synoptic  Gospels  bear  unmistakable  evidence 
that  the  teaching  of  Jesus  in  regard  to  His  Messiahship 
also  implied  that  He  was  truly  Divine. 


LX. 

The  story  of  St.  Paul's  conversion  as  recorded  in  the 
Acts  and  referred  to  in  his  epistles  merits  acceptance  as 
an  historical  fact. 


Vidit  Sacra  Facultas: 

Edmundus  T.  Shanahan,  S.  T.  D.,  p.  t.  Decanus. 
loANNES  A.  Ryan,  S.  T.  D.,  p.  t.  a  secretis. 

Vidit  Rector  Universitatis, 

^  Thomas  I.  Shahan,  S.  T.  D. 


VITA. 

Baron  Johan  Liljencrants  was  born  in  Nykoping  in 
Sweden  in  1885.  Having  completed  college  course  in 
Stockholm,  he  entered  the  Royal  Svea  Guards,  gradu- 
ated from  the  Royal  War  School  of  Karlberg,  and  re- 
ceived commission  as  second  lieutenant  in  1906.  He 
was  made  Officer  d'Academie  in  1908.  In  1910  he  came 
to  the  United  States  of  America,  where  he  was  received 
in  the  Catholic  Church,  and  in  1913  he  registered  as  a 
postgraduate  student  at  Princeton  University.  In  the 
same  year  he  received  the  degree  of  Master  of  Arts. 
After  a  year's  ecclesiastical  training  in  Saint  Mary's 
Seminary  in  Baltimore,  he  registered  for  postgraduate 
studies  in  Sacred  Sciences  at  the  Catholic  University  of 
America,  following  the  courses  of  Dr.  John  W.  Melody, 
and  later  of  Dr.  John  A.  Ryan  in  Moral  Theology, 
Monsignor  Filippo  Bernardini  in  Canon  Law,  Dr. 
Daniel  J.  Kennedy,  O.  P.,  in  Sacremental  Theology, 
and  Dr.  Sigourney  W.  Fay  in  Liturgy.  He  was  or- 
dained to  the  Priesthood  by  His  Eminence  Cardinal 
Gibbons  in  1915. 


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